Castle The Bucket List
by jaytoyz
Summary: Kate said she needed her space and after six months, Rick decides to find something...he just isn't sure what it is. This story is obviously AU, picking up after the hospital visit that began season 4.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Here's something new. My first love is Chuck fiction and I have no plans to abandon any of the stories I'm currently working on…and I few ideas that are bubbling under the surface. This is my second Castle fic, the first, Detective Lessons, I published under the name **hewhosnbn.**this story was just something that's been kicking around for a few weeks and I finally gave in, taking a little break from my other scribbles to give this a try. The future of this story isn't entirely dependant on reviews but they're always appreciated…good or bad. Hope to hear from your thoughts on this story. I'm not sure if this idea has been used already…of course I'd like to believe it's something new but if not, then I'll apologize to anyone who's done it before because I can't recall a story along these exact lines. Well, I've got Chuck stuff to work on and a new chapter for Detective Lessons so I'll wrap this ramble with the usual…thanks for the nudge, Jim. **JT**

Oh, before I go, I have to say I don't own Castle or any of the characters from the show, all mistakes are my own because I'm beta-free and I continue to do this for little to no money...ok, no money.

**Castle - The Bucket List - Chapter 1**

Rick Castle looked up from his laptop, having just put the finishing touches on a fifth Nikki Heat novel, still amazed that he'd managed to finish two stories in the three months since the last book had been released. Glancing at the Gumby & Pokey calendar that hung on the wall across from him, he smiled remembering the look on his daughters face when she'd given it to him last Christmas. It had been part of her dollar store stocking, an idea she had come up with and talked he and Martha into going along with.

Thinking about Alexis always lead him to think about Kate and, lately, that had lead to the better part of a bottle of scotch and a brutal headache the next morning. It had been six months since Kate had been shot at Roy's funeral and five months and twenty eight days since Kate had told him she needed some time. As the days had passed, he'd thrown himself into the investigation into her mother's killing as a way to avoid the hurt that Kate's continuing avoidance of him caused. After three months of working with Ryan and Esposito, he'd made some headway and he was sure that if the new Captain hadn't kicked him out of the precinct, he might have gotten figured out who was behind the whole thing.

He knew that he could've used his connection with the Mayor to wiggle back into the 12th but when he heard that Kate went back to work and still hadn't called, he decided that maybe it was time to move on. He'd thrown himself back into promoting his books, spending a month touring to promote the third Nikki Heat book and the upcoming movie, spending the days at book signings and doing interviews while spending the nights writing and, more often than not, drinking.

Two weeks into the tour, Paula had handed him a manuscript and asked for him to read it. When he'd balked at the request, she'd done something she rarely did, she said please. He'd been so shocked that he agreed to read it that night and promised to give her his opinion the next day. The title, _The Proper Care and Feeding of Your Single Parent, _had brought a smile to his face and while reading he'd found himself doing something he hadn't done in months, he laughed. Even the bitter sweet chapters about navigating a single parents dating and love life had managed to make him smile.

When he'd returned the manuscript the next day, Paula had refused to tell him anything about the author, saying only that she was a recent discovery and that Black Pawn was ready to offer the author a deal. He'd offered to provide a quote for the jacket and Paula had told him that she'd probably take him up on the offer before she'd said her goodbyes, promising to see him again before the end of the tour.

True to her word, Paula had re-appeared on the last day of the tour and he'd surprised her by handing her the outline and first six chapters for a fourth Nikki Heat novel. She'd been surprised and asked if he was going back to following the detective when he returned to New York. He'd offered a simple 'no' before walking away. Gina had also flown in for the final stop on the tour and she'd overheard the exchange, pulling her phone from her pocket and placing a call before walking over to talk with Castle's manager, deciding it was time to talk to Paula about her worries and concerns about her ex-husband. She'd been in regular contact with both Alexis and Martha who'd both expressed their thoughts about Castle's mental state and she hoped Paula might have some ideas about keeping him busy, thinking about anything but the muse that no longer seemed to want him in her life.

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Rick was still staring at the calendar, silently wondering how someone could just ignore a friend for six months, when his daughter knocked at the open office door. She stood silently, staring at him while softly tapping a book against her thigh. He watched as she took in the empty bottles that threatened to overflow from the wastebasket next to his desk and then glance at the three half full bottles that were sitting on the top of his desk. He struggled to find an excuse he could offer when he saw the frown on her face. Before he could say a word, she'd crossed the room and snatched a bottle from the desk top.

"Really dad? Not even making the effort to hide the bottles anymore?"

"I've been busy writing. I've just finished another Nikki Heat book." he said, realizing as he said it, just how weak it sounded.

"That's just great dad. I bet if you keep it up, you can drink yourself to death by the time you finish the tenth or twelfth book. Then Grams and I can enjoy the royalties while we tell people how the great Richard Castle drank himself to death because he loved his muse more than he loved his family."

Slamming the bottle back down on the desk, she moved around to stand beside him. Reaching down, she pulled open the top left desk drawer and pulled out a small, leather bound book which she then dropped in his lap. Stepping back, she then dropped the book she'd been holding onto the desk.

"Well, since you've decided to give up, why don't you get started on your bucket list" she said, pointing towards the book in his lap. "I really wish I could go back and change the dedication in that book" she added, pointing towards the book she'd tossed onto the desk. "I'm going back to school. Good luck with whatever you decide to do" the red head said before turning and walking away, not bothering to look back as she left the room.

Too shocked to say a word, Rick Castle looked down at the small journal in his lap, surprised when he realized that his daughter had actually gone through his desk and looked into his journal. Looking up, he reached out and picked up the book his daughter had dropped on the desktop. He recognized the title right away, wondering how his daughter had gotten an advance copy of _The Proper Care and Feeding of Your Single Parent. _Just as he was about to put the book back down, he noticed the author's name…_**Alexis Rogers**_.

Rick Castle sat quietly, the book in his hands seeming to weigh a ton. The pride he felt at Alexis' accomplishment was warring with the worry he felt about whatever he'd done that had made her regret the dedication she'd made. Finally pushing past the worry, he opened the book and read the words his daughter was now regretting placing there…_To the man who made me believe that anything was possible, as long as I didn't give up…my dad._ _And to the two women who helped me grow up…my grandmother and KB._

Rick gently closed the book in his hands and set it back on the desk. Wiping at his eye, he wondered why the small book in his lap suddenly looked so blurry. After wiping at his other eye, he picked up the journal and opened it, wondering how anyone could read his handwriting. Flipping through the pages, he finally found the list he'd started years ago. After reading the list twice, he pulled out a pen and began scratching of items that he had already accomplished or that he found to be downright idiotic. He'd not added anything to the list since he'd met Kate Beckett, almost forgetting it even existed until his daughter had reminded him. The very first item on his list, through all of it's incarnations, had been to travel across the United States…without any money.

"Well, that's as good a place to start as anywhere" he told himself, closing the journal and setting it on top of his daughter's book. Waking his laptop back up, he saved the fifth Nikki Heat book, added a dedication and e-mailed a copy to Gina with a short note that he planned to take a small break and that he'd be in touch. He also sent a similar note to Paula and then posted a simple 'Gone Fishing' note on his website before logging off and powering down his computer. Getting to his feet, he grabbed the three bottles from his desk and headed towards the kitchen, planning to pour the alcohol down the drain. He stopped himself when he reached the sink, imagining what his mother would say about him wasting perfectly good booze. With a smile, he told himself that she wasn't the one who'd been drinking too much lately and put the bottles into the liquor cabinet.

After looking at his watch, he realized that starting anything at this hour would be counter-productive so he instead took a long shower and then tucked himself into bed. Just as he was about to fall to sleep, his phone rang and he scrambled to answer it.

"Alexis, I love the book…yes, I'm very proud of you and I promise to get back to living up to the dedication…no, I'm not drunk…I'm in bed and I have some plans I need to talk with you about…well, 'gone fishing' is part of what I'm going to do…if you insist, I'll tell you. I'm going to start on the list…no, not because I've given up…or, actually, maybe I had but I've given up giving up? Know what I mean?…Well, I'll tell you all about it tomorrow morning before I leave…you heard me…do you remember the first thing on the list?…well, I'm going to do it…I'm not drunk!…listen, pumpkin, I know I need to get my life back together and I think this might be the best way for me to do that…and it'd make a great book…no, I'm not having delusions of being a modern Kerouac…please trust me, I really want to do this and if I can't, you can tell me 'I told you so' as often as you like…yeah, I'll tell you more when I see you tomorrow…no, I haven't told gran yet…you're right about that, it should be fun…listen, sweetheart, I'm actually tired…I'll see you tomorrow…just do me one favor, please, don't tell anyone…ok?…ok?…good, I'll talk to you tomorrow…goodnight" Rick finished the call and after hitting the disconnect, settled back into bed and was soon asleep.

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By mid-morning, Rick had already had a sit down with both Alexis and his mother. Somehow, he'd managed to convince them both that he hadn't gone cuckoo for coca-puffs and they'd both promised to not say anything to anyone unless there was some sort of emergency. He given them both the number for a simple burner phone he'd purchased that morning with the strict instructions that they keep it to themselves. He tried not to pout when they'd both teased him that he wouldn't be able to live without Angry Birds and all of his other apps, promising to prove them wrong.

By noon, he'd surprised himself by actually getting on the road, He'd dressed as casually as he could and packed a medium-sized backpack. Tucked into a side pocket were the old journal with the revised 'Bucket List' and a new journal that he hoped to fill…he just wasn't sure yet, with what.

Setting off at a leisurely pace, he headed north, intending to see if he had the stamina to reach the house in the Hamptons. He figured if he could actually make it that far without giving up and calling for a ride, then maybe, just maybe, he could keep going.

Thinking about it as he tried to settle into a rhythm, he realized that making his way to the Hamptons wouldn't be the toughest thing he'd do…hell, even making his way across the country wouldn't be the toughest thing he'd do. No, he knew the toughest thing he'd do would be to continue to resist the desire to dial a certain phone number, even though the person at the other end of the number had made it painfully obvious that she didn't want to hear his voice. Giving his head a sad shake, Rick Castle knew the toughest thing he'd have to do had already happened and maybe this trip would allow him to live with living without Kate Beckett.

**A/N:2 **Everyone always asks so I'm not trailblazing when I say that reviews will help me decide if I should continue this story. JT


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Here's another chapter. I was really thrilled with the reviews and alerts that the first chapter generated and I hope this next installment isn't a disappointment. One of the reviews for the first chapter suggested that Rick might write to Alexis and I borrowed the idea…sorta...thanks to lv2bnsb1. Thank you. I know the chapter seems to bounce around but for the foreseeable future, each chapter will start somewhere and there will be memories spread through out. I hope it's not to confusing. Here's the disclaimers…I don't own Castle or anything used in the show. I'm not making anything(money) doing this and all errors are mine because I do this(scribbling) without the aid of a beta. Hey, Oldestman, I made it before Friday, call off the rodent wranglers. Jim, thanks for the nudge.

**Castle - The Bucket List - Chapter 2**

Rick Castle was leaning against a railing, staring out on the Atlantic ocean, watching the flash of heat lighting on the horizon. Glancing down at his watch he was surprised to find he'd been standing there for almost an hour, enjoying the light show. Looking around, he noticed that most of the tables that had been filled with vacationing diners earlier were now vacant, the wait staff busy cleaning off the tables. He smiled as he remembered the older couple who'd picked him up in St. Augustine and had been happy to have his company for the ride to Vero Beach, a small community that was about half the way to his latest destination, Key West.

A month earlier, when he'd completed the first small step of his journey and found himself at his home in the Hamptons, he'd pulled an atlas from a shelf in the library and sat down to figure out his next stop. His initial plan had been to head towards California but for some reason the Bay of Fundy had been on his mind for the last few hours and he'd decided that would be his next stop. After he returned the atlas to it's spot on the shelf, he happened to notice the copy of _For Whom The Bell Tolls_ and decided that Key West would have to be one of the stops on his trip.

Thinking about Hemingway, he stroked his chin and the stubble reminded him that he should shave before hitting the road in the morning. 'The hell with it' he told himself, deciding to find out how he looked with a beard, something he hadn't done since college.

Sitting back down at his desk, he powered up his computer and checked his email. After reading notes from Paula and Gina, he fired off replies and then sent a quick note to Alexis, letting her know about his plan to travel north before turning around and traveling the eastern seaboard. He promised to send pictures, using the camera in his cheap phone to document his journey. He didn't mention his plans send her whatever he wrote with instructions to do whatever she wanted with his scribbles. After logging off and powering down his computer, he got ready to go upstairs and get a good nights sleep. Just as he was about to walk away from his desk, he looked down and saw the Mont Blanc pen that Black Pawn had given him after the latest Derrick Storm novel. He picked up the pen, deciding to take it with him and had started to turn away when he stopped, bent over and pulled open the top drawer. He smiled when he saw the rest of the pens, all gifts from his publisher and picked up four of them, telling himself that, if nothing else he could always sell one if he got into a jam.

When he'd been getting ready to leave the loft, he'd decided to leave behind his credit cards and had taken five-hundred dollars from his safe, telling himself that if he really needed more money, he could call his daughter. His plan was to travel and live as cheaply as possible, admitting to himself he couldn't make his trip without any money but he hoped to see just how frugal he could be.

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The Bay of Fundy had been amazing, leaving him awed by the rapid tidal swell that pushed it's way up the St. Johns river, actually causing a small wave in some places as one of the worlds most drastic tide shifts followed the moon's urging as it had for millennia.

He'd found a small table at the state park and spent almost two hours writing, surprised by the ease with which the words had flowed. He might have continued writing if a young woman and her daughter hadn't asked if they might join him, pointing out that the rest of the tables in the area were occupied. Rick had smiled and invited the pair to join him, smiling when the young girl had shyly offered to share her bag of pretzels. He thanked her and had taken a couple of the salty snacks, smiling at her before going back to writing.

"What are you writing, mister?" the young girl asked, her curiosity finally getting the better of her after nearly ten minutes.

Pausing and looking up, he thought that the little girls curls reminded him of the movie Curly Sue and he couldn't help smiling. "It's a letter to my daughter" he answered. "She's away at school and I decided to take a trip but I miss her so I decided to write to her everyday" he explained.

"Well, please tell her I said hi" the little girl said with a smile.

"I will. Who should I tell her said hi?" he asked.

The girl looked to her mother, seeming to silently ask permission to tell a stranger her name. When her mom nodded, she looked back to Rick with a smile. "Sue" she said, smiling.

Rick couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up as he recalled his thoughts from moments before.

"I don't think Sue is a funny name" the little girl said, a frown rapidly replacing the smile she'd been wearing since sitting down at the table.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't laughing because of your name. I happen to think that Sue is a very pretty name. I was just thinking about an old movie and the little girl in the movie has hair like yours and her name was Sue…that's why I laughed."

"What movie?" the little girl asked, her curiosity quickly trumping her flash of anger.

"Curly Sue" Rick answered.

"Mommy and I watched that movie once so I guess it's ok for you to laugh" she responded, everything suddenly alright again.

Rick returned to his writing and about ten minutes later, his table guests excused themselves, telling him that they were leaving and thanking him for sharing his table with them. Looking up, he'd decided to take a chance and asked if they might be able to give him a ride, explaining that he was taking a vacation and his plans included a lot of walking. The young mother had stared at him for a moment and then, after exchanging a quick look with her daughter, had nodded her head, informing him they could get him as far as Halifax.

The ride had been comfortable, Sue keeping him entertained with stories about her school friends and the trip her class had taken to a museum the week before. Rick had offered some money to help pay for gas but the woman had tuned him down, telling him that she'd settle for an autograph after she'd produced a battered paperback of _Storm Rising._

After signing the book and getting a hug from Sue, he'd said goodbye and watched as his temporary traveling companions drove away.

Looking around, Rick spotted a small diner and decided to have a meal before hitting the road again.

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Rick wandered in bar from the patio, choosing a seat that let him watch the continuing lightning show out over the ocean. Looking around, he had to agree with the old man who'd originally built the hotel who had named the place the _Driftwood Inn. _Picking up a small menu, he read a brief history of Waldo Sexton, the man behind the eclectic collection of bits and pieces that had been used to construct the bar many years before. He could see the modern touches but still marveled at mad genius behind the inn, the same man who'd built a small restaurant a short way up the beach he'd eaten at earlier in the evening.

Putting the menu back down, he'd ordered a snifter of brandy and sat sipping at the smooth liquid. He'd gone over his usual budget with the dinner earlier but didn't feel bad about the expenditure. He looked down at the Timex on his wrist, having sold his Rolex the previous day during a brief stop in Daytona Beach.

He'd decided to splurge, paying for a night in the unique landmark, promising himself he'd spend the next few nights in the cheapest motels he could find as he continued on his way to Key West. His phone beeped, alerting him to an incoming text and he'd smiled when he read the latest message from Alexis. Paula and Gina had both been pushing her for his phone number, both of them clearly unhappy about his continued absence. She also suggested he might want to visit a website, promising he wouldn't be disappointed with what he found there. The text ended with a promise to call him the next evening and her best wishes.

Saving the text, he promised himself to visit the local public library the next day so he could check his email and visit the website his daughter had recommended. Opening his composition book, he made a few notes and then, just because he was feeling like it, he started a new page, quickly losing himself to the words that spilled from the pen. He noted that he was nearing the end of the book, amazed that he'd already filled seven of the notebooks since leaving New York nearly a month before. As soon as he'd finished a notebook, he'd mailed it off to Alexis, sure that she would take care of it, doing whatever she thought best with them.

Having reached the final page, Rick brought the sentence to an end and then closed the composition book, sliding the cap back onto the bic pen in his hand before slipping it into his breast pocket. He smiled when he remembered selling his Montblanc pen to a young man he'd met in North Carolina. He'd been sitting at a table in a Cracker Barrel and the young man who'd been his server had recognized the pen and made a comment about it. Pausing mid-sentence, he'd held out the pen, offering to let the kid give it a try. Pulling out his receipt book, the waiter had used the pen to total Rick's check and then set them both back down on the table.

"Thanks, sir. That really is an amazing pen. After I sell my first novel I'll have to buy myself one. Have a nice day" he finished and then turned to go.

"Matt" he called after the young man who turned and stepped back to the table. "You're a writer?"

"Well, I don't know if I'd say that. I like writing and I've gotten some support from people who've read some of my stuff…"

"You've been published? Anything I might have read?" Rick asked, honestly curious.

"Well, not so much published as posted" the young man answered, looking a little embarrassed.

"Tell me more."

"I've got a few stories I've posted on this fan fiction website."

Rick had smiled at the memory of some of the Derrick Storm and Nikki Heat stories he'd read. Thinking about the Nikki Heat stories reminded him of the time Kate had told him he needed to put a stop to the 'porn' that people had been writing about her and he'd laughed until she'd punched him in the chest. He'd struggled to keep a straight face while she'd railed against all of the smut and when he'd asked why she was visiting fan fiction sites, she'd blushed, mumbled something about curiosity, punched him in the chest again and then walked away.

"Well, Matt, there's nothing wrong with fan fiction but if you really love writing, you should try something original. With the way the publishing business is changing, you can get some great exposure if you're willing to do the research and make the effort. I…I have a friend who's written a little and he believes that if you love writing, you just have to go for it."

Yeah, that makes sense" the young man answered. "Thanks for the advice. I gotta get back to work. Have a nice day" he said before turning to leave.

After watching the waiter walk away, he'd gone back to writing, promising himself that he'd finish the page he was working on and then he'd get back on the road. He'd lost track of time and it was Matt who'd brought him back to reality when he'd cleared his throat and told him that he hated to interrupt but that he needed to close out the check that was still sitting in front of him. Rick had reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, preparing to pay for his food. He'd stared in disbelief at the single one-dollar bill, wondering when he'd spent the other twenty-two dollars he'd had the night before.

"Matt" he said, looking up from his nearly empty billfold, "how would you like to buy your first Montblanc…before you sell your first novel?"

"Mister, I couldn't afford it, even if it hadn't been a slow day."

"I'll tell you what" Rick said, putting the cap back on the pen and picking up the check from the table. "I'll give it to you for forty bucks…and my check." He almost laughed when the pen and check both seemed to disappear and forty dollars appeared in his hand. "Thanks, Matt. It was great meeting you" Rick said, offering his hand.

"You too, mister. Are you sure you really want to sell your pen?" he asked after shaking Rick's hand. "I could lend you the money to pay your bill if you'd like. I know this is worth a lot more than forty dollars."

Pausing as he was slipping his composition book into his back-pack, Rick turned to look at the young man who was still standing next to his table, the pen still held in his hand. "No, that's alright Matt. Those pens belong in the hands of people who love to write and it looks right at home where it is right now. It's yours" he replied before shouldering his pack and heading towards the front door.

Rick caught himself wondering if Matt had been surprised by the inscription on the pen, imagining the look on the young man's face when he realized the pen had belonged to Richard Castle and then he chastised himself for thinking of himself in the third person. Luckily, before he could loose himself any further, the bartender asked he wanted another snifter and he'd declined, thanking her for the great service and leaving a generous tip before getting up and heading towards his room.

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Rick was up with the rising sun, a strange new habit he'd picked up since beginning his trip, and after a quick breakfast and check out, he'd found the closest post office. After mailing off the latest 'package' for Alexis, he'd made his way to the public library so he could check out the website his daughter had recommended. Almost an hour later, he leaned back, amazed at what he'd found. Alexis had set up a website for the proper care and feeding of single parents, using her book as a basis for a public forum where people could publish their own stories about their single parents. The website promised to publish any story but had a strict language and content guideline that helped to keep the content accessible by any age. He'd smiled as he skimmed through a few of the postings and then he been shocked to find a special area that his daughter had set up to feature the musings he'd been sending her.

Alexis had always been his best spell checker and, lately, an un-credited editor on his books, just another reason he was immeasurably proud of her. She's taken his wandering, rambling chicken scratches and turned them into a travelogue of sorts, managing to get new postings up every couple of days that she credited to Alexander. His brief look at the feedback section after the first posting seemed to be mostly positive and he smiled, realizing that fiction might not be his only talent. He wondered what Kate would think of his musings and suddenly, the great start to the day faltered.

After sending an email to Alexis, congratulating her on the website, he logged off and got to his feet. He shouldered his pack and left the library, the rapidly clouding skies finding a perfect match in his surprisingly bad mood. The day had started off so beautifully but he'd made the mistake of thinking about the one thing that would either put a smile on his face or kick him in the heart…and this morning, the thought of his muse hadn't brought him a smile. The sudden feeling of moisture on his cheek worried him, hoping he wouldn't find himself crying in public, again. He almost felt better when the skies opened up, drenching him to the bone before he could find some cover. 'At least it wasn't tears…this time' he said to himself as he ducked back under the front entrance of the library, ready to wait for the chance to get back on the road towards Key West.

**A/N: **Hope this was ok. Your reviews are greatly appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Happy Holidaze…another chapter…this one from a different perspective…hope it's ok…you are of course encouraged to tell me what you think…I don't own Castle and I'm remaining below the poverty level thanks to my earnings from this gig…thanks to all of you who've alerted or favorited …and extra thank yous to those who took the time to review…finally, thanks for the nudge, Jim. **JT**

**Castle - The Bucket List - Chapter 3**

Kate Becket sat bolt upright, the sound of her scream still echoing about her thread bare apartment. Taking a deep breath, she shivered as the sweat covering her body combined with the lack of heat, reminding her she'd forgotten to turn the heater on the previous night. Her hands were still clutched against her chest, feeling the scar but not the hands she'd been dreaming of. She blinked her eyes rapidly, feeling the tears standing there, another reminder of the nightmare that had woke her. She still felt Rick's hands pressed against her, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. She still heard the echo of Rick's voice, begging her to stay because he loved her. She could still see the tears and the fear in Rick's eyes as the blackness began to cloud the edges of her sight. Taking another deep breath, Kate willed her heart to slow down while she moved to get out of her bed, the sweat soaked sheets clinging to her as she swung her legs over the side of the mattress.

Making her way to her bathroom, Kate shrugged out of her damp clothes and paused on her way to the shower, looking into the mirror and cringing when her eyes were inevitably drawn to the scar that marred the flesh between her breasts. Slowly tracing the pink tissue, she thought, for what seemed like the millionth time, what Rick might say if he ever saw it.

It had been almost eight months since she'd told him that she needed a little space and each day that passed just left her feeling more and more lost without him in her life. She'd been expecting him to give her a little time but after the first week, she kept expecting him to call. When he didn't, she hadn't worried until a month had passed. Each time her phone would ring, the caller ID would never be what she wanted to see.

After two months had passed, she'd finally had enough of Josh questioning her commitment to him and when he'd showed up at her dad's cabin and pulled a small velvet box from his pocket, she'd lost it, telling him he wasn't the man that she wanted to be holding that type of box. He'd taken it stoically, tucking the box back into his pocket and leaving without a word. After the door closed behind him, Kate sank back down onto the couch and cried, softly at first but soon in great wracking sobs that actually hurt her still healing chest.

She was still curled into a ball when her father found her later that night, the tears long since dried but the crushing hurt still weighing her down. She'd told her father no when he offered to call Josh for her, finally giving in to his questioning and telling him that Josh was no longer a part of her life. Choosing to let it drop, he'd asked if there was someone she wanted him to call and she'd told him no. He'd pushed a little, suggesting that he call Rick and she'd done something she'd promised herself to never do…she lied to her father, telling him that Rick had said he needed some time and she had no idea when he might be back.

After the first time, the lie seemed to be easier to tell, first to Lanie and then, a month later, to Ryan and Esposito when she returned to the precinct. She'd been surprised when she found out that Rick had worked tirelessly on her case, even after the new Captain had kicked him out. Realizing that she just couldn't approach Castle about the files he still had, she'd convinced Javier to get them for her after making him promise to not say a word about his continued absence from her life.

Once the files were in her hands, she'd thrown herself back into the job, spending nearly every day at the precinct. After each long day, she'd go back to her empty apartment and throw herself into her case, using all of Rick's work to slowly get closer to finding whoever had been behind all of it.

Every day that passed left it's mark on her, both through the long hours working and through the missing part of her life that was getting harder and harder to ignore. Her weekly therapy sessions didn't help with the dreams that haunted her nights and she wasn't sure how she felt about not having the dreams because they'd become the one way she knew she'd see Rick without having to tell him that she'd made a mistake. The one good dream came at a price she'd pay, even though the nightmares were a harsh fee. She told herself that even the nightmares let her hold Rick, if only for a few seconds.

When the sixth month without Castle came and went, Lanie Parish had finally had enough and she ignored Kate's requests and called Rick Castle. The phone call had marked another turning point in Kate Beckett's life because afterwards, first Lanie and then Esposito and Ryan began to distance themselves from her. It wasn't quite a cold shoulder but Kate noticed. She couldn't put her finger on it but she knew something had shifted but instead of asking about it, she simply pushed past it, working even harder.

One morning she'd been surprised when a messenger had appeared at her desk, holding a package and waiting for a signature. After scrawling her name, she dismissed the messenger by turning her chair and tearing into the package, hoping it might, by some miracle, be something from Rick. She developed a habit of reading gossip rags and websites, hoping for any word of the part that was missing from her life but she'd been disappointed with the lack of any news.

When she had the package half open, she realized it was a book and she wondered if it might be an advance copy of a new Nikki Heat novel. Holding her breath, she slid the book out and after turning it over to look at the cover, she couldn't believe her eyes. Opening the front cover, she found the dedication and felt tears begin to slide down her cheeks. Wiping her hands against her damp cheeks, she got up from her desk, shoved the book into her purse and then surprised everyone who knew her by taking a personal day. She didn't ask Captain Gates so much as she told her and then walked out without waiting for an answer.

Once she'd gotten home, she'd thrown herself onto her couch and opened Alexis' book and only moved once she'd finished it. She didn't know when but while reading the book a switch had been thrown and as soon as she put the book down she picked up her phone and dialed a number she hadn't dialed in over six months. The computer generated voice informed her that the number was no longer working and she hung up and then carefully redialed, sure that she'd somehow made a mistake the first time. The second time she got the same message, she'd hung up and tried again. After the third time, she hung up and then tried to call Alexis, only to get another computer generated message, this time informing her that her number had been blocked by the owner of the number she'd dialed.

Resisting the urge to smash her phone against the wall, she simply dropped it onto the coffee table and stumbled towards her bedroom, promising herself to visit Castle's loft the next day.

She spent the night tossing and turning, finally falling into a fitful slumber only to wake screaming, the sight of Rick and Alexis waving goodbye as something pulled her away from them. The image wouldn't go away and she gave up trying to get back to sleep, deciding to spend some time working on her case instead.

The next morning, she'd stopped by Castle's building where the doorman informed her that no one was in residence and he wasn't sure when someone would be returning. Deciding against flashing her badge and demanding more information or contact numbers, Kate went into work and by ten, after calling Martha's acting school and being informed that she was out of town, she had managed to speak to both Gina and Paula who had both been very professional and very apologetic but, in the end, they'd both refused to tell her how to get in touch with Rick or Alexis.

Promising to do more digging later, she returned to the files sitting on the corner of her desk, losing herself in the facts of the latest murder case to drop into her lap.

Days passed quickly and then, out of the blue, someone returned a call she'd placed earlier in the week. Martha asked about her health and then asked why she'd called. When Kate told her she needed to speak to Rick, the older woman had hemmed and hawed, suggesting that she try contacting Alexis. When she'd informed her that Alexis had blocked her number and wouldn't return any calls she made from other numbers, Martha suggested she check the literary section of the paper, thanked her for calling and after wishing her luck, had hung up.

Locating a copy of the day's paper had been easy and a quick look had given her the hint that Martha had dropped. Alexis would be doing a special, one time only, book signing at the end of next week. Kate actually asked this time, but clearly she was taking another personal day and wouldn't take no for an answer. Once she left the Captain's office she started planning what she'd say when she was face to face with the key to finding Rick Castle.

The time passed quickly as Kate spent her days pushing herself at the Twelfth and her nights pushing herself on her case which was coming closer and closer to being solved. She worked herself to the point of exhaustion, often falling asleep at her desk, only to wake screaming when the nightmares would visit.

The morning of the book signing dawned overcast and, if she'd been one who believed in fate, magic or omens, she might have worried; but she wasn't and didn't. Alexis' book had been a huge best seller and Kate wasn't looking forward to finding herself at the end of a long line so she'd gotten up at the crack of dawn and was actually standing outside of the appointed Barnes & Noble before the rising sun had started to warm the day. Despite the early hour, she wasn't surprised to find a line already forming when she arrived and, instead of swearing and giving up, she took her place in line.

Once the line started moving, she was surprised how fast she found herself standing in front of the small table, her book held in her outstretched hand, staring into the hauntingly bright eyes of Rick's daughter who didn't look happy to see her.

"How would you like this made out?" Alexis asked, taking the book and placing it in front of her.

"Um…to Kate?" she replied. "Alexis, uh, could you tell me how to get in contact with your dad, please?"

"Yes, Detective, I could" Alexis answered, closing the book she'd just signed and starting to slide it back across the table. "Next" the young woman called, ignoring Kate's questioning look.

"uh, Alexis?"

"Detective Beckett…I could tell you how to get in touch with my dad but I don't think I will" the redhead replied in a soft but firm voice. "Next."

"Please" Kate asked, her voice wavering.

Tilting her head slightly to the side, Alexis stared at the woman standing in front of her, clearly considering her plea. "Detective, I won't give you his number and I can't tell you where he is because I'm not exactly sure" she finally answered, while pulling the book she'd just personalized back towards her. "But, you might want to check out this website if you really want to know what my father is doing" she added as she added something to the inside page of Kate's book before closing it again and handing it back. "Next" she said, leaving no doubt that the audience had ended.

Kate took the book and with a soft 'thank you' and an added "I really loved the book and the dedication', she moved on, allowing the next person her chance to meet a best selling author. She waited until she'd returned home to read what Alexis had written and then sat at her desk, eager to see what website she'd been directed to. In no time she'd found the collection of essays by Alexander Rogers and she'd read them all in one sitting.

Using the comments section at the ends of the collection, she'd posted a plea for 'Alexander' to call the woman who had found herself needing him more than she thought possible and signed it KB. She also posted an email to Alexis, thanking her and congratulating her on the book and the website. She also told her she understood and hoped to change her mind some day. She signed it the same as her posting for Rick and then logged off. Switching gears, she made a fresh pot of coffee and then prepared to dig back into her case, hoping that maybe, tonight would be the night she could wrap it up.

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Time had passed and Kate checked her account each day, the hoped for email, still missing. She read each new posting from Rick and would post a comment with her plea for him to contact her. She was in the middle of a file related to her case when it happened…a piece fell into place and she suddenly had the answer she'd been searching for. Unable to believe what was staring her in the face, she picked up her phone and placed a call she wasn't sure she'd ever get to make. Jordan Shaw answered on the second ring and listened as Beckett told her about the 'eureka' moment and what she'd finally figured out.

Within a week, Kate Beckett knocked on the door of an uptown apartment and tried to keep from smiling as she shoved her gun into the unsuspecting face of the man who'd caused so much pain, in her life and in countless others. He'd come peacefully once he'd caught sight of the twenty FBI agents who stood behind Detective Kate Beckett. After cuffing the man and carefully reading him his rights in front of twenty agents who made perfect witnesses. As she was escorting her captive down the front stairs, the man's son had appeared in the still open doorway and fired a handgun at Kate's back. Her vest absorbed three of the rounds but a fourth managed to pass through her upper arm while the fifth and final round went through her thigh. Before a sixth shot could be fired, the sniper, who'd been posted across the street, punched a hole through the young man's skull. Kate would've been impressed with the placement of the shot if she wasn't already unconscious.

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Almost nine months to the day since she'd told Rick Castle that she needed some space, Kate Beckett awoke to find Lanie Parish standing at her bedside, another bouquet of flowers in her hands.

"Oh, Lanie, not more flowers" Kate protested as she looked at all of the get well bouquets spread around the room.

"You might want to read this card before you decide to have these thrown a way" her best friend said, reaching forward and placing a small card in her lap.

Kate picked up the card and flipped it open.

_Kate, Congratulations on closing the case. Hope this finds you on the mend. I really hope that now you'll be able to finally find what you need to make you happy. Best of Luck. Richard Castle_

Kate didn't care about the tears that were suddenly slipping down her cheeks or the odd look Lanie was giving her because she knew exactly what she needed to make her happy and whatever it took, she was going to find Richard Edgar Castle and make him understand.

**A/N: **yep, begging for reviews. Next chapter, back to Castle in Key West and beyond.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Some more for all of you who have alerted, favorited and especially for those of you who gave me some of your time in the form of reviews…This chapter is a little shorter than usual, I thought about adding some Kate to this chapter but I sorta like keeping them apart while they're apart…does that make sense…discuss among yourselves and then, if you feel inclined and generous, you can tell me about your thoughts by hitting that review thingie or, if you're shy, PM me…ahem, now that other stuff out of the way, I don't own Castle or any part of the show, I don't makle any money doing this and all mistakes are my own because I'm one of them beta-free idjits…Jim, thanks for the nudge. - _**JT**_

**Castle : The Bucket List - Chapter 4**

Rick Castle looked up from his beer and smiled at the stranger that looked back at him from the mirror behind the bar. Lifting a hand, he stroked his fingers through the beard that was surprising him in it's fullness. The last time he'd tried to grow a beard had been during his first year of college and he'd given up after three months because friends teased him mercilessly about the randomness of the patches of scruff that dotted his face. Inspiration struck him and after taking a quick picture of himself, he sent a copy to Alexis with the tag line, 'scruffy nurf herder'. Minutes later he received a message from his daughter that made him laugh. 'I see you found a new pet…just don't bring that smelly looking thing home with you' the text had read.

"It doesn't look that bad" a female voice announced from his right side. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop…wait, it is eavesdropping if you read someone else's text? I'm not up on the new lingo. I guess you could just call it being nosey and, for that I apologize."

Rick turned to find himself staring into a pair of slate grey eyes that belonged to a very good looking older woman. Her sun bleached hair and deeply tanned skin told him that he was looking at someone who spent a lot of time in the sun but the soft, well-cared for look of her skin told him that she was also someone who took good care of herself.

"Molly…Molly Brown" the woman said, offering her hand, "and don't say it, Mr. Castle."

"Say what?" Rick asked with a small smile, wondering how this stranger had recognized him with his 'new pet' as Alexis had referred to it.

"I'm betting you've seen the movie and before you ask, yes, my parents actually named me after the unsinkable one. I, in turn, in a fit of hubris, named my boat after myself".

"Well, at least you didn't name it the Titanic" he replied with a smile.

"I thought about it, but decided not to push the universe too hard, just in case it decided to push back. The middle of the ocean isn't the best place to be if karma decides to explain the concept of humility to you. May I buy you a drink, Mr. Castle?"

"I'd be honored, miss? Mrs.?…"

"Molly will be fine. I promise that Mr. Brown won't be barging in here if you should besmirch my honor" the woman answered while taking the empty seat next to him and using a slight hand motion to get the bartender's attention. Turning back, she smiled, "Before you ask, I've been a fan since your first novel. The beard threw me for a minute but I figured I'd take a chance and if you weren't, well, you, then I'd apologize" she said, answering Rick's unasked question.

"Well, that's good to know but I have to inform you that, traditionally, I don't do any besmirching until at least two hours after sunset so" Rick paused and glanced down at his wristwatch, "you have at least three hours until I'll entertain the thought of doing any besmirching and, to be honest, I'm out of practice so you should be safe."

"That's good to know" she said with a laugh before turning to the waiting bartender and telling him to bring two of whatever Rick was drinking.

"So, Mr. Castle…"

"Rick, please. If you're going to buy me a drink, I believe you should call me Rick."

"Ok, Rick, if it's not to forward, or nosey as my late husband used to say, I would love to hear a story."

"Any particular story, Molly?"

"I'd love to hear about that" she answered as she pointed to his beard.

"What, this ole thing?" Rick rebutted with a smile.

"Is it part of the list you've been posting about or is it a disguise so you can travel amongst us, unmolested?" Molly asked with a chuckle.

"A little bit of both, I guess" Rick answered truthfully.

"Well, then that's the story I'd love to hear."

"Alright Molly, since you asked so nicely, and since you bought me something to soothe my aching throat" he said as he lifted the snifter and took a sip, "I guess it all started about four years ago. I was at a book launch party for my final Derrick Storm novel when…"

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Rick Castle opened his eyes and, turning to look in the direction of the rising sun, he smiled as he remembered the previous night. He and Molly had been sitting up on the deck, watching the bio-luminescent trails of fish as the moved through the ocean alongside the boat while they'd enjoyed their nightly glass of wine. He'd just finished another entry for his journal and offered to let his companion read it before he sent it off to Alexis. He'd been about to go below to stash his laptop before returning topside to sleep when Molly had produced a pair of scissors and a comb, explaining that his 'Tom Hanks in Castaway' look would have to go. He shied away until she explained that she only meant to trim his disguise, not do away with it altogether.

"Molly, have you had more wine than I think? It's dark…"

"Richard Castle, I trimmed my late husband's beard for twenty years and he was, no offense, the best looking man I've ever seen. I could trim a mans beard with blindfolded and I'm tired of looking at that unkempt scruff…plus, your daughter asked me to see what I could do" she explained with a smile.

Smiling back, Rick sat back down without a word, giving silent permission. He'd trusted Molly Brown since that first night in Sloppy Joes. After he'd given her the story she'd requested, she had returned the favor with a 'Cliff Notes' version of her life story. He'd been amazed to learn that she was nearly sixty-one and had been sailing her late husband's final gift to her since she'd finished her mourning period. She'd explained she would always grieve for her loss but that her husband wouldn't want her to close herself off from the world and she promised herself she'd sail around the world, something they'd always wanted to do together but it was a dream a drunk driver had stolen from them.

After buying a new laptop, a waterproof digital camera and a few other items that Molly had suggested he might need, Rick had followed a map on the back of a cocktail napkin and found the Molly Brown in her designated slip. After hailing the boat and asking permission to board, he'd laughed when his new friend had appeared, chastised him for being late and wasting daylight and a good breeze before drawing him into a hug after he steeped aboard. He'd stowed his gear as directed and within thirty minutes, the Molly Brown cast of her lines and headed out to sea.

The rest of the day had been a crash course in sailing and by nightfall, he was beginning to feel a little better about his ability to be more of a help than a hindrance. He and Molly had spent an hour fishing, well, it was more like Molly had spent an hour teaching him how to fish. He'd been surprised when his rod had jerked and minutes later he'd reeled in his first fish. He was sure he was beaming from the praise his teacher had given him but soon regretted his good fortune when he learned the proper way to clean his catch so they'd have something fresh for dinner.

After a hearty meal and the obligatory clean up afterwards, he was ready to turn in when Molly had appeared with his laptop.

"Not forgetting something, are you?" she asked, handing it to him. Seeing the slight confusion on his face, she reminded him of his promise to his daughter about daily updates, explaining she'd managed to take a few photos while he hadn't noticed and he could send them, along with whatever he wrote that night, the next day. "Now, I expect at least five thousand words before you turn in" she finished and then turned to leave. "Really, Rick, sticking your tongue out at me? That's one demerit. Now get to work" she added with a laugh before disappearing below deck.

"How did she know …" he mumbled under his breath.

"I used to be a school teacher, Richard. Now get to work" her voice drifted up through the open hatch.

"Yes, ma'am" he answered with a smile before opening his laptop and powering it up, strangely comforted when the screen glowed as it came to life.

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He'd been using his lap top along with his composition books, ever since their first night at sea. He wrote about their first meeting at Sloppy Joes which had led to Rick saying yes when the older woman had asked him if he might like a job as a deck hand. At first he'd laughed and then explained that his nautical experience was limited to parties he'd attended aboard yachts that never left their slip. When she'd repeated the offer adding that she be happy to teach him anything he needed to know about being a deck hand, explaining that she would be leaving Key West to tour the Caribbean and eventually end up in Texas, he'd thought about it for a couple of minutes and accepted…after calling Alexis and asking for her opinion. His daughter had insisted on speaking to Molly and ten minutes later, she'd given her permission with the provision that he send daily updates along with photos.

It had been almost six weeks since he'd shipped out from Key West and the Molly Brown had finished the last of their island visits and was now making way towards the Gulf. His traveling companion had been true to her word and after the first three days, he'd begun to feel at home aboard the boat. Getting his sea legs faster than Molly had expected, by the end of the first week he would often spend the night on the deck, feeling an amazing sense of peace sleeping under the stars.

He'd been very pleased with the reaction his ongoing travelogue had been receiving on his daughter's website and shocked when Alexis had informed him that several major publications had approached her with offers to publish them. He'd told her to do whatever she and Paula thought best and spent the rest of his weekly phone call listening to Alexis talk about her time at college and the amazing response to the 'Care and Feeding' website. He'd wanted to ask her about Kate but had been afraid. So he'd simply offered his usual love and disconnected the call.

He remembered the tightness in his chest he'd experienced when he'd first heard about Kate's shooting. He read the story online and had been happy that she'd finally found her closure but he'd felt the tears gather when he read of the wounds she suffered during the arrest. He'd called Alexis right away, ready to fly home from the Molly Brown's next port of call but his daughter had told him she'd already spoken to Lanie and she'd told her that Kate would be fine. She urged him to think about it for a few days, reminding him he'd promised Molly to help her get to Texas. Agreeing to take her advice, he'd arranged to send a bouquet to Kate with a note of congratulations and hope for her good health. He'd thought about adding more but wasn't sure if Kate wanted or needed his concern, finally leaving the note the way he'd originally dictated it.

That night they'd hit some rough weather and for the next three days, he'd earned his keep as the Molly Brown was buffeted around by a weak low pressure system and by the fourth day, when they'd awoken to a beautiful sunrise, he'd decided that Kate would be fine on her own. She had Lanie and the boys and her father. Despite the postings on the website, she'd made it apparent that she didn't need him and, as much as it still hurt, he had something to finish.

"Richard, finish what your typing and catch us some dinner" Molly called to him from the stern where she stood behind the wheel. The boat had all of the latest guidance systems but, for some reason that he hadn't been able to explain, he found the same thrill that his companion did when they stood with their hands at ten and two o'clock, gripping the wheel as the sea slipped by them. "What am I paying you for, you lazy boy?" she added with a hearty laugh when he looked up and caught her eye.

"You're paying me?" Rick teased back, smiling at the talk of money because Molly's husband had left her enough money do whatever she wanted and then some. They'd never talked about it but Alexis had informed him that he was traveling with an extremely wealthy woman who probably had more money than he did.

"Yes, with sailing lessons" she'd answered. "Now, get to fishing."

"Yes ma'am" he'd answered with a smile.

**A/N:2 **Hope you liked. Next chapter? Kate.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Welcome back…sorry for the delay…life and other stuff…this chapter we visit with Kate…thanks to everyone who's been reading along…also thanks to everyone who's alerted and /or favorited this batch of scribbles…big thanks to those of you who spared some time and offered your thoughts on my efforts…I don't own or make any money through my unlicensed use of A. Marlowe's characters…and all of the mistakes contained herein are 100% mine because I continue to suffer from the delusion that my prodigious talent has no need for the talents of a beta reader…no, I'm not sure if my family has a history of mental problems, why do you ask?…happy new year, go read some Chuck…I should have some new stuff for you soon… I'm still having fun thanks to Jim, the 'nudger'. _**JT**_

**Castle : The Bucket List - Chapter 5**

Kate Beckett looked up when she heard someone knocking at her door. After tucking the t-shirt she'd been holding into the duffle bag that was sitting on her bed, she made her way through her apartment and paused at the front door, taking a second to peer through the peephole. Recognizing the blue eyes and red hair, she stepped back and took a deep breath and then a second before reaching out and turning the door knob. Pulling the door open, she stood aside and gestured for the young woman to enter.

"Alexis, it's , uh, it's nice to see you" she said, not too surprised when Rick's daughter simply stood in the hallway. "Won't you come in?"

"No, thank you detective. I just stopped by to ask if you really going to go through with your plans?"

"What?"

"Your post last night? You said you were going to go looking for my father. Are you really going to go through with it?"

"Yes" Kate answered without hesitation, remembering the declaration she'd posted in the comments section following Rick's latest update. _I'm coming for you, Alexander. I need to talk and I really need you to listen. KB_

"Why?" Alexis asked, snapping the detective back to reality.

"Because I love him and I need to tell him that, face to face."

"You love him? You certainly have a funny way of showing it, Detective. You threw him away and now you want him back?" the young woman practically hissed at her.

"I didn't throw him away."

"I was there that first day when he came home from visiting you, He told me you said you needed a little time. I was there every day while he gave you your time and I watched as he started to slip away. He worked on your case and he wrote about the woman he created as a testament to the woman he loved and he drank, because the woman he loved didn't seem to want him in her life."

"He drank?"

"Not at first but it got bad, Detective. He tried to hide it, at first, but Grams and I knew. He wasn't eating enough and he'd go through a fifth of scotch every other day."

"Every other day? A bottle every two days?"

"No, a bottle of scotch every other day, a bottle of vodka in between. And somehow, he still managed to work on your case and finish two more Nikki Heat books. I watched him hurt and each day I hated you a little bit more."

"I didn't know" Kate replied, trying to keep the tears she felt building from falling.

"How could you? You shut him out…you shut us all out!"

"You could've called" Kate offered weakly.

"After you told my father that you needed space? How would that have worked, Detective Beckett?"

" I...uh…"

"Exactly! I've read your posts and they seem heartfelt but how can I trust you with dad's heart after what you did too him? How can I know that you're not going to just drive him back into that bottle again?" the young woman asked, barely controlling the anger that flashed in her brilliant blue eyes, eyes that reminded Kate so much of the man who was missing from her life.

"Because I love your father. I don't know if I'll ever be able to prove it to you, Alexis, but I do. Maybe someday you'll believe me but first, I'm going to find your father and make him believe."

Alexis stood motionless, her eyes locked on Kate's. The silence seemed to stretch until the detective actually began to feel uncomfortable, worried that she might never be able to convince the young woman in front of her that Rick Castle was her one and done. She felt a tear escape from her eye and make it's way down her cheek. Just as she was about to reach up to wipe the tear away, the young woman stepped forward and threw her arms around her neck, pulling her into a hug.

"Good luck, Kate" Alexis whispered into her ear before releasing her and stepping back. "You should know that he wanted to come home when he heard about you getting shot but I convinced him to honor his commitment to Molly. I guess I might have convinced him that you had already proved that you didn't need him" she said before turning to walk away.

"Alexis?"

"No, I won't give you his number" she replied over her shoulder, seeming to read the other woman's mind. "I will tell you he sailed out of Key west aboard the Molly Brown."

"How does that help?" Kate asked while wondering just who or what Molly Brown might be.

"You're the detective, Detective" Alexis answered before stepping into the elevator and disappearing.

Kate stood staring at the now closed elevator doors for several minutes before closing her door and making her way back to her bedroom. Sitting down on the edge of her bed, she looked around until her eyes fell on her phone sitting on her bedside table, Reaching out, she picked it up and then scrolled through her speed dial listings before finally tapping one.

"No fair, Kate" she heard Alexis' voice through her phones speaker.

"I'm sorry , I thought I dialed your grandmother."

"You did. I borrowed her phone this morning. We're not going to make this easy on you, Detective. Good luck" the young woman's voice said before disconnecting the call.

Kate stared at the phone in her hand for a minute before dropping it on the bed beside her. Getting to her feet, she went back to packing clothes into her duffle bag while letting her mind pick at her new 'case'.

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Jim Beckett opened his door with a smile, glad and a little surprised to find his daughter on his doorstep. Things had been off between them ever since she'd lied to him about Richard Castle. He'd never called her on it but his disappointment had clouded their relationship until she'd finally given him a tearful confession when he'd asked about the impersonal note that had arrived with the bouquet he'd sent when she'd been shot. He couldn't pretend to understand her reasoning, being more hurt by the lie than his daughter's obvious mistreatment of the man who'd been willing to jump in front of a bullet for her.

"Katie-bug, what brings you out to visit your old man? I thought you had been cleared to go back to work, although two months doesn't seem like enough time."

"Yeah, I'm cleared but I'm not going back to work."

"Really?" Jim asked, not surprised by his daughter's answer because he wasn't the only Beckett who had been following the posts on the _'Care and Feeding'_ website. Stepping back, he gestured and moved away towards the kitchen of the small house, not having to look to know that his 'bug' was following behind.

"I've decided to take a leave of absence from the force."

"Really? I thought you loved that job more than anything" he replied, hoping he'd finally hear her admit what he'd known for a long time. "Why are you taking a leave, if you don't mind me asking."

"I, uh, I have someone that I need to find" Kate answered from the open kitchen doorway where she was leaning against the door frame.

"Oh really? Who do you have to find, Katie-bug?" he asked, continuing to gently stir the ingredients in a sauce pan that were beginning to smell delicious.

"That smells great, dad. sausage and peppers?" she asked, hoping her dad might take the hint and drop his line of questioning. "Do you have enough to feed your favorite daughter?"

"Who do you have to find, Katherine?" her dad repeated the question while turning to look at her.

"Rick" she answered softly.

"Who?"

"I have to find Rick, dad."

"Rick? The man who told you he needed some space and never bothered to call you again? Is that who you have to find? Why?" he asked, watching his daughter as her eyes filled with tears.

"He didn't walk away, dad, I sent him away."

"But you said that…"

"I know what I said, dad, but I lied. I lied to you and I'm so sorry about that" she said as she pushed off from the door frame and crossed the kitchen, throwing her arms around her father's neck. "I sent him away, daddy, and now I have to find him because he has to hear me tell him that I love him" she sobbed against her father's chest. "I need to look into his eyes and beg him to forgive me because I love him and I need him."

"More than your job?"

"More than anything, daddy."

"Well, Katie, I guess I better feed you before you hit the road" Jim Beckett said, gently stepping away from his daughter and returning to the pan on the stove. "You planning on taking the bike?"

"No, I bought a used Jeep" she answered, taking a paper towel and wiping her face. "I wanted to have room to bring Rick back with me."

"You seem pretty confident that you're going to have a passenger for your return trip" he pointed out while filling two plates with the delicious food he'd been working on. "Where are you planning to start your search?" he asked, grabbing two plates and leading the way to the dining room table.

"Key West" she answered, sitting down and sniffing at the food in front of her. "Smells delicious, dad, just like always."

"Why Key West?"

"Alexis said that Rick sailed out from Key West on the Molly Brown so I thought I'd start there."

"Katie, have you thought this through?"

"Of course I have, dad."

"Then, why start where he isn't?" he asked with a smile.

"Because I…uh…"

"Katie, I'm not a detective but I do know that you might want to re-think your plan. I know that Rick has been sailing around the Caribbean and he's not heading back to Key West."

"How do you know that, dad?"

"Because I've been reading the same articles that you have and 'Alexander's' next port of call is supposed to be Galveston. Don't you think that might be a better starting point?" he asked, not bothering to hide a smile when his daughter's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "You'll catch flies, again, Katie-bug" he added, chuckling at the memory of the incident that had earned her the nickname he and Johana had used since that summer, all those years ago.

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The smell of coffee and bacon pulled Kate Beckett from a wonderful dream that involved a warm, sandy beach and Rick Castle's strong arms and soft but firm lips. Turning to the side and catching sight of the clock that hung on her old bedroom wall, she was shocked to find that it was well before six in the morning. After stretching, she got to her feet and set about changing her bed, refusing to leave the chore to her dad. Once she'd finished tidying the room, she grabbed some clean clothes and headed towards the bathroom.

After taking a colder than normal shower because the dream had definitely left her 'heated' up, she dressed quickly and then headed towards the kitchen, the smell of breakfast reminding her just how hungry she was. Turning the corner, she froze when she saw the group of people seated at the dining room table.

"Hey, guys" she said, wondering why Lanie, Javi and Ryan were sitting with her father, all of them eating breakfast. "What brings all of you out this early in the morning?" not bothering to question why they were all sitting with her father. She watched as her friends exchanged looks, each wondering if they answer or let someone else explain.

"I called Lanie last night" her father answered with a smile. "I told her about your plan and…"

"I told Javi who…" Lanie added with a guilty smile, making it plain that she hadn't had to call her on again/off again boyfriend.

"Called 'honeymilk'…please tell Jenny that I'm sorry about waking her up" Esposito said with a smile. "He met us at the precinct and we got this for you" he finished, putting a folder on the table in front of the empty chair.

Kate moved to the empty place and sat down just as her father put a plate, loaded with food, and a steaming cup of coffee, in front of her. After taking a sip from the steaming cup, she picked up the folder and opened it, wondering what she'd find. After flipping through the pages, she looked up to find her dad staring at her.

"Eat your breakfast, Katie" he said before she could ask any questions, reaching across the table and taking the still open folder from her hands, He closed it and then set it on the table before nodding towards her plate. "Eat" he repeated before returning to his own meal.

Despite the questions that were bouncing around her mind, Kate tucked in and enjoyed her father's cooking, not looking up until she'd cleaned most of the delicious food from her plate. When she finally raised her head, she found the rest of the tables occupants staring at her with smiles on their faces.

"What?" the detective asked while shoveling the last forkful of eggs into her mouth.

"Girl, you just inhaled that food" Lanie answered with a laugh. "You in some kind of hurry?"

"Damn, Beckett, your dad was right about keeping our hands away from your mouth while you were eating" Esposito added with a smile.

Turning to glare at her father, she found him smiling while he got to his feet and began clearing the table.

"Why don't you guys talk while I get things cleared up" Jim Beckett said over his shoulder as he made his way to the kitchen.

Kate picked to folder back up and looked at the people gathered around the table. "What's this?" she asked, opening the folder again and scanning the first page.

"Meet Molly Brown" Javier replied. "Widower and owner of the 'Molly Brown', a forty-eight foot sailboat, currently docked in Galveston."

Kate looked down at the picture on the first page in the folder, surprised to find that the woman was sixty-one. The boat owner looked much younger and she felt an irrational flash of jealousy at the thought of Rick Castle spending any time with another woman besides her. Before it could get loose, she clamped down on her 'green-eyed monster, reminding herself that she'd driven the man away and had no right to him…'not yet, anyway' she told herself.

"So, when are you leaving, Beckett?" Kevin Ryan asked when Kate closed the folder and put it down in front of her.

"No time like the present" she answered after finishing the last of the coffee in her cup.

"Want some company?" Lanie asked, "I could take some time…haven't been on a road trip since college."

"No, thank you Lanie, but this is something that I have to do on my own" she answered, getting to her feet and heading towards the kitchen with her empty cup in her hand. Her father met her halfway, handing her a travel mug while taking the empty cup from her. Before he could turn away, Kate threw her arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug. "Thanks dad…for everything" she whispered into his ear.

"Be safe, Katie. Call if you need anything" he replied, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead before releasing her and taking a step back.

"I love you, dad" she replied before turning to find that all of her friends had moved towards the front door where they stood waiting. "What? Are you guys in a hurry to get rid of me?" she asked with a laugh, seeing that Kevin had her duffle bag slung over his shoulder while Javier had his hand on the door knob.

"Let's go, girl" Lanie said with a smile as she took Kate's arm and pulled her towards the now open door, her free hand holding the file that Esposito and Ryan had put together for her.

Once outside, Kate watched as Kevin tossed her duffle bag into the back of her Jeep while Javier opened the door for her. Turning to her side, she pulled her best friend into a hug.

"Be careful out there" Lanie said before releasing her hold and stepping back. "And don't come back without 'writer-boy'."

"Yeah, chica" Esposito said as he stepped forward and took his turn hugging her, "call if you need anything" he added before stepping back to allow his partner to step in with his own hug and best wishes.

Kate climbed into the Jeep, turning the key and buckling her seat belt before turning to look at her friends who stood together a few feet from her window. Looking up, she found her dad standing in the still open front door, a sad smile on his face.

"I'll keep in touch" she announced before putting the vehicle into reverse and slowly backing out of her dad's driveway, giving a small wave towards her dad who answered with a wave of his own.

"You better" Lanie called after her, her hand wiping at something on her cheek before joining Javier and Kevin as they waved goodbye.

Kate watched through her rear view mirror until her friends were no longer visible and then found herself wiping at her cheek. "I'm coming for you, Rick Castle" she announced to no one in particular, surprised at how good it felt to say his name. Smiling to herself, she reached for the radio, ready to find out if all those old songs would now make sense…she was sure they would.

**A/N: Again**…Next chapter?…Rick's adventures in the Caribbean and what happened in Texas. Let me know what you think. **JT**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **A short one, just sorta happened this afternoon…finished a chapter for '_Swimmer' _and for some reason this just bubbled up…hope you enjoy…remember(like you ever forget) I don't own Castle or any of the characters in the official 'Castleverse'…I'm not making any money doing this and all of the errors, mistakes, flubs and whatnot are completely on my hands because I'm doing this 'Beta-free"…what do you think? **JT**

**Castle - The Bucket List - Chapter 6**

Rick Castle struggled against his body's return to consciousness, hating to let go of the vision of Kate Beckett as she tenderly kissed his cheek. Her warm breath against his neck and the warm, wet, scratchy feeling of her tongue as she licked his face. The sudden blast of cold as she touched an ice cube to his neck.

'What the hell' he asked himself when his eyes snapped open and he found himself staring into the brown eyes of a face only a mother could love. "Shog" he yelped, fighting the smile he got every time he thought about the story behind the animal's descriptive name. "You know you're not supposed to be sleeping in the bed" he said while grabbing a handful of fur and giving the dog a vigorous pet before pushing her gently away from him and wanting to laugh at the hurt look she gives him before jumping to the floor. "Paper" he said and waited for the bark that signaled the dog's intention to carry out the one word command, watching as the English bulldog marched out of the room.

Sitting up, he moved to swing his legs over the bed's edge when the cast on his right foot reminded him that he wasn't as mobile as he'd been three weeks earlier, when Molly Brown had introduced him to her nephew, the owner of both the roof over his head and the dog who'd decided that he needed her for a bed warmer. His first meeting with the two year old bulldog had been less than cordial, involving lots of barking and raising of hackles as the watchdog took position on the edge of the porch when he and Molly had first approached the ranch house.

"Shog, be nice!" a voice had called out from inside while he and Molly had kept what they hoped to be a safe distance.

"Jeremy, you never gave this dog a proper name?" Molly called towards the house, a smile playing about her lips as she watched Rick and the porch's guardian each attempt to stare the other down.

"Aunt Mol, is that you? I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow" a young man replied after walking out onto the front porch and bending down to scratch the dog behind her ears. "Go say hi, Shog" he added after straightening back up, watching with a smile as the furry ambassador rushed down the steps and promptly sat down on Rick's feet, her head tilted up to look at the new toy she'd been given to play with.

"Shog?" Rick questioned while bending down to give the bulldog a sturdy scratch behind her ears.

"Mister, don't…" the young man called just before Rick introduced himself to his new foot warmer. "Ah, damn, too late."

"What's too late?" Rick asked, looking towards the source of what had sounded like a warning and then playful resignation, his hands still busy scratching.

"Well, mister, you just got yourself adopted" Molly's nephew announced as he stepped down from the porch and pulled his aunt into a hug. Releasing his hold on the older woman and then stepping back, he held out a hand towards Rick. "Name's Jeremy" he said as he shook hands, "and that mean old bag of fleas is Shog" he added with a smile, looking down at the dog that sat happily wagging her stump of a tail as the author continued his ministrations, his strong fingers digging gently into the animals fur.

"Shog?" Rick asked, having drawn a blank while trying to figure out the possible meaning of the strange name.

"Rick, my nephew loves to play the country bumpkin, just to watch people's reaction to him and almost two years ago, he wandered into an animal shelter in Galveston and announced his desire to find a 'good she dog', as he put it. The poor girl behind the counter just looked confused but some puppy, that had just been dropped off earlier in the day, had gotten loose and picked that moment to attack Jeremy's shoelaces. My nephew bent down and grabbed this little bundle of fur and after doing a quick inspection, announced he'd found the 'she dog' he wanted and refused to relinquish his hold on the little dear until the paper work had been completed. When the young lady had asked what name she should enter on the paper work, Jeremy had simply drawled 'she dog' but the poor dear hadn't heard to well or maybe she was a terrible typist, either way, when the engraved dog tag arrived in the mail a few days later, he found he was the proud owner of 'Shog', and he thought karma had named her and he didn't bother to correct the mistake" Molly finished before bending down and adding her fingers to Rick's, giving the dog a few affectionate scratches before straightening back up.

"Well, Shog, it's a pleasure to meet you" Rick said and nearly laughed when his foot warmer got to her feet and offered up a paw. Taking the offered appendage, Rick almost screamed when Shog moved much faster than he could've imagined and clamped her mouth around the entirety of his hand. Before he could say a word, his hand was once again free and was now being lavished with a very thorough tongue bath.

"Well, it's official" Jeremy stated as he wrapped an arm around his aunt and began guiding her towards the house.

"What's official?" Rick had asked, dropping the paw he'd been holding and looking up to the top of the stairs where the two people had paused to look back at him.

"You're hers' now" he replied, glancing toward the dog that had gotten to its feet and was now head butting Rick's shin. "Bring our guest in, Shog" the young man added before turning around and walking through the front door, his aunt trailing behind him, quietly laughing.

Rick failed to see the humor until he looked back down and found the tenacious bulldog, it's teeth now wrapped around the shoulder strap of the duffle bag he'd been carrying, dragging it towards the stairs, obviously intent on carrying out her master's order. Reaching down, he grabbed the bag and found himself in a tug of war with the four-legged valet that didn't seem to want to let go of her charge.

"I've got it, Shog. You just show me the way" he'd said and been surprised when the dog let go of the strap and then proceeded to walk towards the front door, glancing back every other step to make sure that he was still behind her.

The sudden addition of weight to the mattress at his side dragged Rick from his memories and he looked down to find the morning paper laying against his thigh. After a 'thank you' and a hearty scratch, Rick got to his feet and limped out into the dining room, not surprised to find Jeremy sitting at the table with a book in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

In the three weeks he'd been staying with the young man, he'd rarely seen him without a book, unless he was busy with the chores that seemed to take up much of the day. Molly's nephew had a doctorate in finance but had decided that he'd rather be a rancher and when the opportunity presented itself, he'd bought an old 'dude' ranch and was in the process of turning it into a working ranch slash bed and breakfast for people who wanted horses and the great outdoors instead of quilting and antiquing.

Molly was a silent partner and would visit whenever she needed a break from sailing, which her nephew complained wasn't often enough. The first couple of days they'd been at the ranch had been interesting but soon enough, Rick began to feel at home, offering his help whenever it was allowed. He'd spend the evening's sitting on the porch that wrapped around three sides of the house, writing, while Shog would keep him company until she would decide it was bedtime , at which point, she'd get to her feet and nip at his ankles until he went to bed.

At the end of the first week, he'd gotten up and found that Molly had unexpectedly gone back into Galveston to check on her boat, leaving Rick a note, instructing him to make himself useful until she got back or until he got bored. Making his way to the kitchen, he found a note from Jeremy, instructing him to have a quick breakfast and then to join him in the barn after he packed a light bag. Smiling at the though of two notes in one morning, he'd none the less, followed the instructions and an hour later found himself on horse back, following along as Jeremy took him on a slow, meandering tour of the ranch.

The land was really, starkly beautiful and he was lost in admiring the landscape when his horse suddenly reared up, tossing Rick off of it's back. Landing with a 'wuff', he'd been struggling to draw a breath while trying to ignore the sudden flare of pain in his foot when the unmistakable sound of a rattlesnake clued him in to the reason for his horse's sudden action. Before he could move to locate the source of the threat, Shog had rushed in and, faster than he could follow, had grabbed the snake and was shaking it violently about, her teeth fastened tightly just behind the reptile's head. Watching in disbelief, he saw Jeremy leap from his own horse and, after a quick hand signal to the bulldog, grabbed the now lifeless snake when the dog dropped it, using a quick knife slash to insure that the threat was definitely over.

"Holy shit!" Rick had gasped, still not believing what he'd just witnessed.

"That was definitely different" Jeremy had announced, not seeming to have been fazed by what had just happened. "You ok, Rick?" he'd asked after dropping the decapitated snake to the ground and moving towards him.

"What about Shog?' he asked, worried that his four legged friend had been injured when she had come to his defense. Before Jeremy could reply, the bulldog was at his side, seemingly none the worse for wear.

"She's fine. It'll take more than a little rattlesnake to bother her. I'm more worried about you. Aunt Molly will skin my alive if I let her favorite writer get hurt. You ok?" he asked for a second time and watched as Rick had tried to get to his feet, only to drop back onto his ass when his right foot suddenly 'spoke up', informing him that everything wasn't alright.

Somehow or other, with Jeremy's help, he'd managed to get back onto his horse and several hours later, he'd been sitting on the porch, his laptop in his lap and a cast wrapped around his broken foot. The story flowed and soon he was lost in the words, only coming back to reality when Shog informed him it was bedtime with her customary ankle nips.

He looked down at his computer and was shocked to find that, not only had he written and sent off a new update for his travelogue, he'd also written five chapters of a new story. After a quick perusal of the finished product, he wanted to laugh when he imagined the look on Gina's face when she found the beginning's of a western in her in box.. "What the hell" he mumbled to himself and sent the chapters off to his daughter, sure that she would know what to do with them.

Jeremy looked up from his book to find Richard Castle standing near the table with a distant look in his eyes. "Hey Rick" he offered and when that got no response, he'd reached out and lightly tapped the older man with his book. "Earth to Rick" he said and laughed when the faraway look vanished from the author's eyes.

"Sorry Jeremy, just wool gathering" he explained and then moved to join the young man at the table, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Aunt Molly called last night, said that she'd gotten word that some one had been asking around at the marina, looking for you or her. Any ideas who might be…"

"Wait, isn't your aunt at the marina?" Rick asked.

"I thought I told you, Rick, she sailed out last week. Said she planned to head for Panama and after there, maybe take a spin around the Pacific."

"What? I thought I…"

"Rick, you've got a broken foot. Molly promised to call you and explain everything. Maybe she's having cel problems" he said, noting the look of concern that flooded the writer's eyes. "I'm sure she's fine but if we haven't heard from her by the end of the week, then we'll worry, ok?"

"Ok. Wait, she said something about someone asking around about us?"

"Yeah, something about someone asking a lot of questions about your whereabouts. You got somebody chasing you, Rick?" the younger man asked with a smile, reaching out and grabbing the coffee pot to refill the cup in front of him, wondering to himself if the 'KB' that had been posting to Rick's travelogue was actually a real person.

His aunt had spent an evening talking with him and told him all about the website where Richard Castle's daughter had been posting chapters of an ongoing series of essays that her father had been sending to her almost every day. He'd spent a late night reading the posts and come to the conclusion that his aunt had been right all along…Richard castle really was a talented writer.

Before she'd left, she taken him aside and told him what she knew of Rick and 'KB', making the young man promise to keep his mouth shut if anyone came looking, unless Rick told him otherwise.

"No…no one chasing me" Rick had replied after taking a swallow of coffee. Putting the cup down, he'd bent over and given Shog a very thorough ear scratching before looking back up. "So, what can a one-legged old writer do to help out today?" he asked, a small smile on his face as he watched Jeremy's reaction to his attempted Texas drawl.

"Rick, what, are you Slim Pickens all of a sudden, ready to take over the cook's duties on some wagon train?" the younger man asked while getting to his feet.

"What, you don't like my accent? I thought it was very manly and authentic."

"Rick, if you do that again, I'm going to cancel the order for the rattlesnake skin boots I'm having made for you…and then I'll tell Shog to stop being nice to you" he said over his shoulder as he walked towards the kitchen. "Now, why don't you hitch up the wagon and we'll see about letting you earn your keep."

Richard Castle really wanted to answer with a 'yup, pardner' but realized he really wanted the promised snake skin boots even more.

**A/N:2 **Next chapter, Beckett. Thanks to everyone who alerted, favorited or reviewed…your time is really appreciated. JT


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **This chapter was a pleasant surprise for me and, I hope, for you as well. The day was a little slow and I managed to get this out between customers. This seemed to flow pretty easy and, if not for my vicious one-fingered typing attack, may have been a little longer…I have to admit that I don't own Castle or any of those great characters in the show…what? You didn't know that? Wow!…also, I remain unpaid for the flailing away at my laptop that is represented here…and, most shocking of all, this testament to spellchecking and bad grammar usage is completely mine…that's right, no Beta here…thanks to everyone who has alerted or favorited this tale…and a great big thank you to those of you who have given a little of your precious time in the form of reviews, they are all greatly appreciated…finally, a heartfelt thank you to APR for telling me to give this whole writing thing a shot, thanks Jim, I'm still having fun.

P.S. For those of you who don't know, _Castle : Detective Lessons _is also one of mine and I hope to have an update for the patient few who are waiting. _**JT**_

**Castle - The Bucket List - Chapter 7**

Kate Beckett felt more relaxed than she'd felt in a long time. The setting sun cast long shadows across the western side of the yard and warmed her as she sat with her eyes closed, taking in the sounds all around her and smiling as she thought about the furry presence that was currently sitting atop her feet. Opening her eyes, she looked down to find the English bulldog that was keeping her feet warm, looking back up at her.

"Well, Shog, are we friends now?" she asked, remembering the less than cordial initial meeting they'd had when she first approached the ranch house, earlier that afternoon. The dog had barked at her and come charging down the porches steps, when she'd climbed from her jeep, skidding to halt less than a foot away and growling deeply. Moving slowly Kate extended a hand and slowly knelt down, hoping that making eye contact while reducing her height might ease the tension. Within a minute, the dog's hackles had dropped and she'd eased forward, sniffing at the stranger in her yard. Evidently, finding no threat, she'd licked her hand and then moved closer to sniff at her feet. After reading the tag that hung around the dog's neck, she'd greeted the bulldog by it's strange name and smiled when the creature rolled onto it's back, offering her belly and panting happily when Kate rubbed her belly.

After giving her a thorough rub down, the dog had led Kate up the steps and then, through barks and head butts to her shins, guided her to a rocking chair where Kate had spent the last three hours. Once she'd sit down, Kate's new friend had stretched out on the top of her feet and, except for the occasional lift of her head, had remained motionless.

Looking up at the sound of Kate's voice, the dog tilted her head to the side as if pondering the question. Kate laughed when the dog snorted and then seemed to nod her head once before dropping her head back down onto her front paws that were resting on top of Kate's feet.

Reaching down, she gently patted the dog's head and scratched behind her ears, earning a look of love and adoration, at least that's what she hoped the look meant. The sound of an approaching vehicle made both of them look up and Kate thought about getting to her feet but Shog had evidently decided that she didn't need to move and that ended her plans to get out of the chair she'd been enjoying since her arrival.

Settling back into the chair, she watched as a beat up and primered pick-up approached the house, a trail of dust following along behind, the setting sun creating an oddly beautiful light show as it shone through the slowly settling cloud. The battered vehicle came to a stop near the stairs that lead up to the porch and after the engine shut off, a smiling young man climbed out, paused and then reached back in to grab a rumpled Stetson that he then pulled onto his head.

"So, I see that Shog's done found herself a new toy" he drawled, his eyes briefly meeting hers before looking down at the now wide awake dog that was still stretched across her feet.

"I guess so" Kate answered with a small smile, reaching down and scratching the dogs ears. "I'm K…"

"Kate Beckett, yeah, I recognized you. I'm Jeremy" he announced, interrupting his guest and extending a hand after climbing the stairs and moving to stand next to the chair. "I spoke with you yesterday, Miss Beckett" he added before dropping her hand and bending down to rub the dog's head.

"Um, ok" Kate replied, a little confused at Jeremy's sudden lose of his Texas twang. The confusion must have shown on her face because she had an answer before she could ask.

"It's just for salesman and strangers. Helps me gauge the person by the reaction to the accent. Once I recognized you, I didn't want to waste the time playing the bumpkin. Can I get you a drink?" he asked as he turned away and headed into the house, pulling open an obviously unlocked door and stepping through.

Shaking her head in amusement, Kate was about to point out her feet were being held captive when the now familiar weight disappeared and she found herself watching the bulldog as she marched into the house. Getting to her feet, she stretched quickly and then followed the odd pair into the house.

Kate had been following the noises from deeper in the house, fully intending to search out her host and her owner, smiling to herself at the thought of Shog running the house and Jeremy providing her with food, drink and scratches whenever she growled. Taking a turn towards what she was sure would turn out to be the kitchen, she was surprised to find herself in the library and after taking a slow look around, whistled softly at the number of books that lined the walls around the room. 'Rick would love this' she told herself when she spotted the section of shelf that seemed to contain all of Castle's books.

Walking over to the shelf she'd spotted, she reached up and pulled down Heat Wave and opened the cover, was shocked to find that the book contained a personal inscription and a date. Doing a double take, she almost dropped the book when she realized that Rick had signed the book less than three days before. Closing the book, she slid it back into it's space and pulled down 'Storm's Fall' and opened the cover, somehow not surprised to find that the book also contained a dated inscription, signed the same day as the first book she'd looked at.

Suddenly overcome with curiosity, she took a step to the side and pulled down 'In A Hail Of Bullets' and smiled again, her theory now closer to being fact. The inscription wasn't Castle's usual fan signature and it was dated, just like the other books she'd already opened. Flipping through the book, she was about to close it when she noticed handwriting inside the back cover. Opening the book again, she found that Rick had filled two pages with his tight but slightly sloppy handwriting. Minutes later she closed the book, smiling again, this time because of the 'to be continued' that had been printed at the bottom of the final back page. Closing the cover, she returned the book to it's place and then played a hunch, pulling down the next book, skimming past the front pages and chuckling when she found the back pages were filled with more of Castle's handwriting.

Hearing someone clear their throat startled her back to reality and she spun to find Jeremy and Shog both standing in the doorway, the young man leaning against the door frame with one leg crossed casually across the other and, in a scene that reminded her of the old classic, 'Cat Balou', Shog was actually leaning up against her master's leg, her own front legs crossed. Remembering the sight of Lee Marvin's drunken cowboy and his drunk horse, leaning against the building, the horse's legs crossed was the tipping point and Kate burst out laughing.

"I don't remember the second chapter being that funny" Jeremy said, nodding towards the book still in her hands.

"Sorry, I just happened to see the pair of you standing there and remembered a scene from an old Jane Fonda movie" she answered when she finally got her laughter under control. She watched as Jeremy seemed to think for a moment and then look down at his feet and then at Shog before he chuckled to himself.

"Ok, I guess I can see it" he replied and then looked back towards the book in her hands. "Enjoying the story?"

"Um, yeah, I'm sorry that I didn't ask permission before I started going through your books" she said before turning around placing the book back into it's place. Without thinking she'd started reaching for the next book and then stopped herself. Turning back around she opened her mouth to speak but Jeremy beat her to it.

"Go ahead, I heard you're a fan and it really is a fun read. When you're finished, join us on the porch for a beer and I'll answer the questions I'm sure you'll have" he said and then, as if the pair were sharing the same thought, turned at the same time as the bulldog and walked away.

"Thank you" she called after the pair and smiled when the both seemed to respond with grunts of approval before disappearing from sight. Turning back again, she pulled down the next book and, after reading the inscription, flipped through the book to find the third part of the story that Rick had written less than four days before.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Time had flown by and after finishing the last part of the story, Kate had glanced at her watch and been surprised to find that she'd been standing and reading for over an hour. Closing the book with a smile, she slid it back into place and after stretching, she took another look around before retracing her steps and walking back out onto the porch. The sun had set while she'd been lost in an unpublished Richard Castle original and it took her eyes a minute to adjust to the darkness, Looking around, she found Jeremy and Shog sitting to her side, the pair of them both looking in her direction.

"Like it?" her host asked with a smile, obviously already sure what her answer would be.

"It was…beautiful" Kate answered, her thoughts drifting back to the tale of an aging cowboy who'd decided to drift westwards when the woman he'd loved hadn't been ready to love him back. The story had been too short but, somehow, Rick had packed such great imagery into it that she thought it might be the best thing he'd ever written. Reaching a hand up, she quickly wiped at a tear she was afraid might fall and give her away, letting this stranger know what a big softie she really was.

"He left two days ago" Jeremy said to the unasked question, "and I can't tell you where he's headed."

Kate moved and took the seat next to the man who had told her everything and nothing with a short sentence. After sitting down, she took note of the empty beer bottle in his hand and, oddly, the empty beer bottle standing next to the battered bowl sitting in front of the bulldog who had her head resting on her crossed paws.

"You said something about a beer?"

"Yes, I did. Shog, beer us please" he answered, reaching down and giving the animal a tender scratch behind the ears and then sitting back up when the dog stood up and, with stumpy tail wagging, turned and vanished into the house. "Just wait" Jeremy said, holding up a hand to stall the question.

"But…"

"Just wait, Miss Beckett. Have a little faith in my faithful companion" he said with a laugh.

Less than a minute had passed when the bulldog re-appeared, two long neck beer bottles in her mouth, one hanging from each side.

"How?" Kate managed to get out while she watched Jeremy relieve the dog of her cargo.

"I quit asking" the young man answered while handing Kate one of the bottles. Twisting the top off of his own, he poured a little into the battered bowl and then waited until Kate got the hint and poured a little from her own bottle into the bowl. "She doesn't drink much and the trick really seems to tickle people" he added before taking a pull from the bottle in his hand.

"I'll bet" Kate responded and then took a swallow after reaching down and giving their 'waitress' a pat on the head.

"I have to apologize about the trip to Panama. That was my idea."

"And the ten day cruise?" Kate asked, remembering her crash course in sailing at the hands of Molly Brown. She smiled at the memory of catching up with the older woman after flying to the small country, following a lead that she'd finally wheedled out of a recalcitrant dock master in Galveston.

She'd spent almost a week hanging around the small yacht club, repeating the same questions, over and over…'do you know a boat named the Molly Brown?'… 'do you know Molly Brown?'…'have you seen this man?' she'd finish and present a picture of a bearded Richard Castle. She spoke to anyone who would listen and, after trying unsuccessfully to bribe the dock master, was ready to head out to Key West and start again when the someone had left a note on the windshield of her jeep, informing her that the Molly Brown was currently in Panama.

Without waiting for any confirmation, she'd booked a flight and less than forty-eight hours later, had found herself 'shanghaied'.

She'd found the boat the first day but didn't get to meet the owner until the next evening. After introducing herself to Rick's sailing companion, she'd been invited back to the boat and three bottles of wine later, hadn't been aware when her host cast off and set sail. When she'd awoken the next morning in a strange, cramped bed, a herd of elephants stamping and trumpeting inside her skull headache and her stomach pitching and rolling like the floor beneath her feet.

Ignoring the small bucket left at her bedside, she'd somehow managed to make her way topside and after finding the edge, allowed her stomach to finally take it's contents 'out for a walk'. After what had seemed like hours, she'd finally righted herself and looked around, somehow not surprised to realize that they were out of sight of land and her drinking companion from the night before was standing behind a really big steering wheel with a smile on her face.

During the ten days they'd spent at sea, Kate had gone from cursing, hating and plotting revenge to smiling, laughing and even sleeping on the deck at night, telling herself she was sleeping in the same spot and under the same stars as the man she was chasing after.

She'd spent the first day hungover and seasick, not knowing or caring when one had evolved into the other. Several times, when she found Molly smiling at her when she'd make a trip to the rail, she told the woman that she was lucky she'd left her gun in New York which would only make the smile grow. She hadn't actually left her gun behind and she knew that her 'captor' knew that and had actually removed the bullets when she'd retrieved Kate's things that first night, after she'd passed out.

Kate and Molly had both been surprised by how quickly the land-lubber, New York cop, had adjusted to life on board a sailboat. After Molly promised to tell her where Rick was once they made landfall, she'd fallen into the same routine that Rick had adopted, even learning how to fish and feeling a huge sense of accomplishment when she caught her first fish. She had digital proof that her first fish had been bigger than Rick's and one day she'd show him.

They spent the days enjoying the weather and the early evenings talking, discussions that, more often than not, wound up being about Richard Castle. They both loved his books and both thought that his new writings were an amazing leap forward and they both looked forward to checking the 'How To Care…' website and would both often leave quick reviews and personal notes, Kate's often including a plea for him to contact her.

Most nights, as she slept on the deck, and Rick would invade her dreams and after a couple of very salacious ones, she promised herself that she and Rick would one day have a sailboat of their own and their children would grow up knowing how to sail and fish. 'Children?' she'd asked herself and then answered just as easily, 'yes, at least two'.

Ten days after leaving Panama, the Molly Brown had sailed into Galveston and Kate didn't have it in her to be upset when she found out that Rick had been there the whole time, staying with Molly's young nephew. After thanking the older woman for everything, even 'the extended cruise', she'd stepped off the boat a wiser woman. She'd walked a mile in Castle's shoes, so to speak, and ended up knowing more about herself.

"That was all Aunt Molly's idea" Jeremy answered, the sound of his voice dragging her back out of her memories. "She called earlier and told me to apologize for her, again. She says she just couldn't help it, that she thought that you might be the perfect woman for Rick but that she wanted to make sure you found him on your own, not because someone led you to him. And I have to say that I think I agree. Rick and I talked a lot, especially after he broke his foot."

"He broke his foot?" Kate asked, suddenly panicked at the thought of Castle being injured and her not being there to help. "How?" she asked, imagining him dropping something heavy on his foot and then hopping around after releasing one of his 'little girl' screams.

"A rattlesnake spooked the horse he was riding and he fell off. Luckily, Shog got to the snake before it could bite him" Jeremy answered in a voice that seemed to make the whole incident seem like it was no big deal.

"What?" Kate blurted out, her mouth hanging open in shock, not believing what she'd just heard. Following the young man's urging, she sat back in the chair and listened while she heard the whole story of Rick's adventures. She smiled as she imagined Richard Castle wearing the rattlesnake skin boots that Jeremy had promised to have made for him.

"That's why I wasn't here to greet you. I was in town shipping the boots to him."

"And where did you send them?" Kate asked, trying her best to sound non-chalant.

Ignoring Kate's question, Jeremy smiled as he continued with the story, repeating Rick's demand that the doctor outfit him with a working cast so he could keep up with his chores and then smiled at Kate's shocked look when the words 'Rick' and 'chores' had been used in the same sentence. Before she could say anything, her host continued on, saying that she might not recognize Rick when she finally caught up with him.

"And why is that? The beard? Already seen that" Kate said with a smile, sure that for once, she was on the same page.

"Um, no, not exactly. I may have worked some of his 'writer's fat' off of him…or more precisely, he worked it off himself. I would guess that he lost about thirty pounds."

"Well, that doesn't sound to bad" Kate admitted, thinking that losing a few pounds wouldn't hurt him.

"Well, he might have lost more than that, he just replaced the lost fat with some added muscle" he said while pulling his phone from his pocket and, after tapping at the touch screen, handed it to her.

"Wow" Kate whistled, her mouth actually watering a little at the picture of a shirtless Castle as he frowned at the camera, a look of amused annoyance on his face. "Would you mind if I look at the rest of the pictures in this file?"

"Tell you what, Kate. How about I send you any that I think you might like?" Jeremy asked, extending his hand, a not so subtle hint that he would prefer it if she didn't snoop through his phone.

"Of course, that would be great" she answered, handing the phone bag after taking another longing look at the object of her search. "I hate to ask but I have another favor and I'll understand if you say no…"

"You'd like a copy of the short story Rick left in my books?"

"How did you…"

"Kate, I already saved a copy to my computer and sent one to Molly, of course you can have one as well, after all, I'm pretty sure that you were the inspiration."

"Thank you so much" Kate said with a voice made unsteady with emotion. Getting up from the chair, she stepped over and waited until the younger man got to his feet and then drew him into a hug. "Thank you for watching out for him" she whispered and then stepped back. Looking down, she found doggie eyes staring up at her. "And you too, Shog" she added, bending down and giving the bulldog a sound hug and a firm scratch behind her ears.

Straightening back up, she turned to look at the young man who resumed his seat and had a small smile on his face.

"You're welcome to stay as long as you want but I'm guessing you're eager to get back on the road? I remember Rick mentioning New Orleans, the Grand Canyon and ,even Mount Rushmore…but I still won't tell you were he's going" he announced, smiling as he thought about Rick's ultimate destination, the world premiere of the Nikki Heat movie. He'd talked a lot with his aunt and they had both decided they'd be attending the event but that they wouldn't tell Kate…unless she hadn't found Rick when the countdown was down to less than a week.

"I understand" Kate replied, hiding the flash of disappointment with a smile. "If you don't mind, I appreciate it if I could stay the night."

"Sure, not a problem at all. Would you like another cold one?" he added, lifting his now empty bottle.

"That would be nice" she answered after taking the last swallow from her own bottle.

"Well then, you'll have to order this round" he stated with a nod towards the dog that was pawing at the now empty bowl under her nose.

"Shog, beer us please" Kate said and couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up when the bulldog got to her feet and after making eye contact with the two humans, shook her head once and then turned, disappearing into the house.

**A/N: **Hoped you liked this one. Next, we're gonna visit with Rick and his next stop or two… please remember that reviews are always appreciated. JT


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **A rainy day and fewer customers than normal leads to this. Hope it's ok. I don't own any of the Castle characters that appear in the show and I'm not making any money spinning this little yarn. All errors are my own and hopefully not to glaring. Jim, thanks for the nudge.

_**JT**_

**Castle - The Bucket List - Chapter 8**

Rick Castle's eyes snapped open when he felt a delicate hand squeeze his thigh, a little bit higher than might be accepted as familiar. Looking to his left, he found a slightly blood-shot pair of light brown eyes staring into his. The owner of the hand and the eyes was smiling at him, one of her eyebrows quirked a little while the grin she wore left no doubt that the hand on his thigh was an invitation.

"Sam?" Rick asked, shifting his attention from the jazz combo on stage to the blonde sitting next to him.

"Yes, Rick?" she replied while her hand continued it's slow advance up his thigh.

"Um, what do you think about the music?" he asked as he gently grasped her wandering hand and removed it from his leg.

"They're really good" she answered, her eyes showing a hint of confusion and disappointment.

Remembering the first day he'd met the Samantha, and the group of high school students she was helping to chaperone, he hoped his lack of interest in anything more than friendship wouldn't be taken the wrong way. He'd be the first to admit that his blonde companion was a beautiful woman and four or five years ago, he would have happily taken advantage of her invitation but his heart just wasn't in easy conquests and, if he was honest with himself, hadn't been for a long time.

"I'm sorry, Sam, but I can't" he said, his hand still holding hers under the table. "There's someone who…well, she holds my heart and I haven't found a way to get it back."

"I understand. I just thought I'd give it a shot. No harm, no foul?"

"No harm, no foul" Rick replied with a smile and after taking a sip from his drink, turned his attention back to the trio in the corner who's practiced ease filled the small bar with the easy sound of classic jazz.

Glancing at the figure that stood in the center of the table, he remembered when he first found his current traveling companion, sitting on a dusty shelf in a small thrift store. He'd had Jeremy drop him off outside 'Eclectica Etcetera' , planning to resume his travels after picking up a lunchbox that he'd seen advertised on E-bay, sure that it would make a nice addition to Alexis' collection. After paying for the 'Banana-Splits' collectible, along with a Partridge Family lunch box, he'd decided to explore the surprisingly cool little store.

He'd been in a back corner when he stumbled across the Gumby and Pokey figures, the pair seeming to call out to him from their perch. After adding the pose-able Pokey to the package he planned to mail to Alexis, he took the nearly 12 inch tall Gumby and posed him in front of the store front, right below the rather distinctive name, and took a picture, planning to add it to his next post to the 'Care and Feeding' website.

He'd been about to add Gumby to the package for his daughter when an odd idea occurred to him and the piece of green plasticene wound up in his back pack where he'd stay until he was needed for the next photo opportunity.

After spending almost two hours chatting with the owner of the small store, who'd turned out to be a fan, he'd made his way to a truck stop. Planning to have a light meal while trying to find a ride to New Orleans, He found himself overhearing a spirited conversation that pitted Derek Storm against Nikki Heat, the small group of young people arguing about which character would win in a 'bad-ass' contest. He'd chuckled when Nikki came out on top, winning the 'duel' due mainly to the fact that Derek never had his own movie while Nikki's would be making it's world premiere in less than three months.

Giving in to his curiosity, he'd left money on the table to cover his check and then walked over to the table where the 'Derek vs. Nikki' conversation had been taking place. The discussion came to an abrupt halt, all seven of the table's occupants turning their attention to him when he cleared his throat after stepping up to the group. Seven pairs of eyes looked towards him, six sets belonging to what he guessed were high school students while the seventh set belonged to a very attractive woman who he assumed was closer to his own age.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I couldn't help hearing your debate on the merits of Derek Storm versus those of Nikki Heat and I thought I might offer a unique perspective on the subject, if you don't mind" Rick had said, not surprised to see the confused looks on six of the faces but wondering why the older woman had a knowing smile on her face.

"And the reason you're qualified to offer us a 'unique perspective'? one of the young men asked, obviously assuming the position of alpha for the group.

"Robert" the older woman said reproachfully with a hint of humor added to her voice, "I know you were brought up to act a little politer to your elders. Besides, I'd have to assume that Mr. Castle might be able to offer some insights into his characters, don't you agree?"

Rick had wanted to laugh when six pairs of eyes, opened to their widest, locked onto him. He couldn't help smiling as he watched the young people struggle to get their confusion and shock under control.

"Won't you join us, Mr. Castle?" the young man he now knew to be Robert asked, gesturing to the only empty seat at the table.

"I'd be honored" Rick replied before taking the offered seat, placing his backpack on the floor beneath his feet. "Now, where were we?" he asked with a smile as he allowed himself to relax into the chair, actually finding himself looking forward to conversation on the merits of his two best known characters.

The discussion, sometimes heated but always fun, lasted for almost an hour and several times he'd found himself shocked by the insights of his young fans. At one point, one of the young women had asked if he'd switched editors for the last Derek Storm novel and the Nikki Heat novels, explaining that she couldn't give specific examples but that she had a feeling that something had changed. Rick had been flabbergasted by the question and after a moments thought, realized that Alexis had indeed been responsible for the subtle shifts in his story telling. When he explained what might have caused the change that the intuitive young woman had picked up on, giving his daughter credit for not only spellchecking but also acting as his un-official editor, the entire table had fallen silent. He'd then dropped an even bigger bomb when, after swearing the group to silence, proudly explained that his daughter was the author of 'The Proper Care and Feeding Of Your Single Parent'.

"Alexis Rogers is your daughter?" Robert had blurted out, the shocked and amazed look on his face mirrored on the faces of the other five college students. Only Sam, as he'd found out was the older woman's name, didn't look surprised by the admission. Meeting her eyes, he caught a quick wink that was followed by a knowing smile that he found quite appealing.

The silence that followed the young man's outburst seemed to stretch out until, as if by some silent, shared signal, all of the young people started firing questions in his direction., each one struggling to make themselves heard over their tablemate's voices. Confused about where to start, he'd looked up just in time to see Sam raise her fingers to her mouth and cut loose with a quick, loud whistle.

Everyone at their table, as well as everyone else in the diner, fell silent. Moments later, the rest of the patrons returned to their own business while the occupants of the table were still staring at Sam, waiting for whatever announcement was coming their way. Even Rick found had found himself waiting unsure what might happen next.

"I'm sorry guys but we need to get back on the road" the blonde had announced, glancing down at her wristwatch before making eye contact with all of her charges. Rick had found out early in the conversation that Sam was acting as a chaperone to the small group who were on a break from college, on their way to New Orleans to do a couple weeks of volunteer work. He'd been surprised to hear that there was still many people living in homes that still wore the scars of Hurricane Katrina and even more surprised to meet this unique group of people who were giving up their breaks to volunteer with repairs.

Rick half expected grumbles of disappointment and couldn't help smiling as he watched everyone look to Sam and then begin getting ready to leave, erasing any doubt about who was really in charge of the small group.

"It was a real pleasure meeting you, Mr. Castle" Robert had spoke first, offering his hand and then giving a firm handshake before picking up the check and heading towards the cashier. The rest of the group followed suit until just he and Sam were left standing at the now empty table. Holding out her hand, it looked like the blonde had been about to say something when Rick spoke first, asking her if she might have room in their van for a stowaway, explaining that he was also on his way to New Orleans and would really appreciate the kindness of a ride.

Sam had stared at him with an appraising look for what felt like minutes before smiling and holding out her hand.

"Come on, Rick" she'd said with a smile, "I'll have to ask the kids but I don't foresee anybody having any objections to having a world famous author tag along and since your daughter's not available, I'm sure they'd settle for you" she added with a laugh before taking his hand and after giving it a surprisingly firm shake, had turned and walked away, looking back once to make sure he was following.

As she'd predicted, no one had objected to having a passenger and the entire trip had been filled with companionable conversation. Rick had even taken a couple of turns behind the wheel and before he knew it, the group had rolled into New Orleans, even stopping at a 'Welcome To…" sign so he could pose Gumby for a picture.

The group had insisted on being in the photo, having asked about the toy soon after their first meeting when he'd insisted on taking a picture of his tiny traveling companion seated on the dash of their van. They'd laughed when he'd explained his plans for the toy, nodded when he explained why he wouldn't appear in the photos with him, saying that the updates he'd been posting were now 'Gumby's' updates and had then taken turns making up stories of Gumby's adventures before he'd been found in the store, each tale managing to tie into the one before.

Rick had listened intently and when the Sam had finished her segment, bringing their plasticene hero up to the point where he ended up in the little store, he laughed out loud. After asking permission, he'd pulled out his laptop and started writing down the story they'd all just finished telling, promising to let everyone read and, with their approval, he'd submit the tale to his daughter and let her decide what to do with it, promising to give credit if the tale was ever posted.

Everyone had laughed, good naturedly, when he'd announced his plans and then drifted back to conversations among themselves when he'd pulled out his laptop and began to write, the steady tapping of his fingers against the keyboard drawing him away until he was alone with Gumby, the story of his adventures pouring forth from him with greater ease than he could believe.

Lost to the tale, Rick didn't look up until he'd finished the story, only then noticing that everyone, with the exception of Sam behind the wheel, had fallen asleep. When his eyes met hers in the rear view mirror, he couldn't help smiling when she held a finger to her lips, letting him know that sleep was just what the young people needed and she'd rather he left them to it. He'd shaken his head in agreement and then, with nothing better to do at that moment, tucked his laptop into his backpack and soon there after, joined his traveling companions in dreamland.

He'd been jarred awake when Sam had pulled the van to the side of the highway and began shouting, telling everyone to get out so they could document Gumby's arrival into New Orleans. There'd been no complaining or grumbling except from the tiny green figure's warden, who was soon laughing at the sight of everyone gathered around the small 'star', standing in front of the huge 'Welcome to…' sign as he fumbled with his camera, finally convincing his sleep hazed eyes to work so they could take the shot and then find a place for breakfast and coffee…lots and lots of coffee..

Once in the city and after a hearty breakfast, Sam had found the headquarters for a local volunteer group that would be putting them all to work the next day. After they'd all completed the necessary paper work and were milling about, they'd all been ready to say goodbye again until Rick had surprised everyone, himself included, when he stepped up and asked for the proper forms so he could lend a hand.

The group had been waiting outside when he emerged with his orientation pack firmly in hand and quickly surrounded him, all of them congratulating him on his decision and offering to let him sleep on the floor of the room the young men would be sharing for the length of their stay. He'd accepted without a second thought and that had been the start of the two most rewarding and backbreaking weeks of his life.

Despite the walking cast that wouldn't be coming off of his still healing foot, he'd thrown himself into the work, learning the basics of carpentry, plumbing and even landscaping as he worked alongside the other volunteers, spending sometimes as much as twelve hours helping people, much less fortunate than himself, reclaim their homes. Gumby had accompanied him the entire time, often riding in a pouch of the tool belt that he'd been issued, coming out for photo opportunities whenever they presented themselves.

He'd often return to the room, dead tired and aching from the day's exertions. After a shower, he'd often make his way to the swimming pool of the tiny motel they were staying at, sitting at on of the tables and spending hours writing and then sending off whatever he'd completed to Alexis.

Within the first two days, his updates had started appearing on the 'Care and Feeding' website which would lead to lengthy conversations with Sam who'd taken to joining him at the small table that had become his night time writing desk. The talks were always light and easy, more often than not, becoming group sessions when the rest of the crew would join them poolside.

They'd been in New Orleans for almost a week and a half and everyone had been gathered around the pool when their nightly get together had suddenly fallen silent. Rick had been typing away at another update for his 'travelogue' and the sudden lack of voices around him got his attention. Looking up, he'd found everyone gathered around Robert, staring down at his laptop. As he watched, everyone looked up and found his eyes, the look on their faces being unreadable. Curiosity had gotten the best of him and he'd put aside his own laptop and walked over to see what everyone was staring at so intently.

Looking down, he'd been confused at first, not seeing what had captured everyone's attention. The photo appeared to be of a jeep parked in front of a 'Welcome To New Orleans' sign. He'd been about to ask what the fuss was about when Robert had pointed out the tiny blue blob that appeared to be sitting on the top of the steering wheel. Before he could lean closer for a better look, the computer's owner had typed in a few quick commands and the blue blob was suddenly much larger and Rick had no trouble identifying the object because it's origins were tied very closely with his own traveling companion.

The sight of little figures in photos was nothing new to the website, since his first couple of postings featuring his green traveling companion seemed to have given birth to an increasingly large number of 'Gumby' travel pictures. Alexis had told him about the seeming fad and had laughed after offering to send him the ones that weren't fit for public display. He'd been about to ask and then thought better of it when his imagination had caught up.

Bending over to take a closer look at the image, he'd been shocked when he noticed the tiny letters near the bottom of the figure's fin. He'd straightened back up and slowly walked back to his laptop. Saving the document he'd been working on, he'd logged on and after a few keystrokes, he'd been looking at the same picture that the rest of the group were still staring at. Looking up briefly, he'd noticed that everyone was talking amongst themselves and casting furtive glances his way when ever they thought he might not notice. Looking back down, he'd read the caption…**Goo wants to talk to you**…and the initials that identified the poster…**KB**, the same tiny initials that he'd noticed on the figure in the picture.

He knew that he'd spoken with Sam about Kate and he'd been pretty sure that the rest of the group had figured out some of story but the picture threw him for a loop. He'd read the posts from KB but hadn't been sure if he was ready to talk with her, just yet. Logging off, he'd powered off his laptop and after saying goodnight to everyone, had turned in. His sleep had been troubled, images of a spectral Kate, the front of her shirt dripping blood, had chased him through-out the night and he'd spent the next four days working extra hard, hoping the exhaustion would give him a peaceful night's sleep…and it had.

The last day for the group had been bittersweet. Rick had spent the morning in a local clinic, having the cast on his foot removed, and the afternoon spent working on an older couples roof had seemed to race by and before he'd realized it, his time a volunteer had come to an end.

Instead of the usual poolside gathering, Sam had invited him out to a small club with the promise of some great Jazz being all that was needed to get him to agree. The group had all gathered at the older couple's house for a barbeque, the homeowners only way to say thank you to the strangers who'd helped them rid themselves of the need for blue tarps whenever rain threatened.

The food had been delicious and Rick, along with the rest of the group, had been almost moved to tears when the old couple brought out a scrap book and took their guests on a very special tour of New Orleans, as seen through the eyes of high-school sweethearts who'd been married for almost fifty-five years.

After bidding their fare-wells, Sam had had the kids drop them off at small club, promising to been back before curfew when her son had asked how late he should stay up. After Rick had promised to have her 'home' early, Robert and the rest had bid them goodnight and drove away.

"Rick…earth to Rick" Sam's voice called to him, dragging him out of his memories. The band had taken a break and his companion was looking at him with a concerned look. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. Just thinking about…"

"Where you're going next?" Sam asked with a small smile.

"No, just remembering the last two weeks."

"And thinking about Kate?" Sam asked before finishing the last of her cocktail.

"No, just thinking about the time I got to spend with everyone and the work we did. I'm really glad that I overheard that discussion and decided to offer my opinion."

"So, where to next, Rick? Are you still planning to leave tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, I actually have a reservation to take a cruise on the Mississippi, aboard one of those steam boats."

"Going to visit your inner Mark Twain?" she asked with a smile .

"Yeah, that's exactly right" he replied and signaled towards the waitress who was two tables away. "How about one more round and then we'll call it a night?"

"That sounds great Rick. One more set?" she asked, noticing that the trio had retaken the small stage.

"Yeah, one more set."

**A/N:2 **Kate misses the boat, just barely. Thanks to everyone who reads, alerts, favorites and reviews, Thoughts? _**JT**_


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **Slow day at work and some ideas that had been rattling around. Not sure how well it jells together. I can't claim to own any part of Castle or the show. I'm still making nothing from my scribbles. No Beta was tortured by being forced to slog though my atrocious spelling, grammar and storytelling. Thanks to everyone who has alerted or favorited this or any of my stories. Also a big thanks to those of you who took some of your valuable time and reviewed…all reviews are greatly appreciated. Thoughts on how this chapter worked? _**JT**_

_**A/Nduex:**_ Almost forgot…thanks to Jim, for the nudge and Tom, for the moral support(and for not letting slip the rampaging rodents of ruin)

**Castle - The Bucket List - Chapter 9**

Rick Castle looked up from his laptop, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He wanted to laugh out loud but wasn't sure how his traveling companions might react so he swallowed the urge before looking back down at his computer. The latest posting of his travelogue had been followed with a note from KB, telling a story about her misadventures aboard a Mississippi riverboat. She'd mistakenly taken a cruise that included a 'Midnight Murder Mystery' and had run afoul of the rest of the passengers when she'd solved the 'murder' within fives minutes. The posting had included photos of Goo, posed at various places on the steam ship and had ended with the now familiar promise to catch up with him soon.

The section of the 'Proper Care And Feeding…' website that featured his daily postings had become increasingly popular and Alexis had informed him that the number of 'vacation' photos featuring Gumby, Pokey and the rest of the characters from the 'Gumbyverse' as well as hundreds of other figures had led to the formation of a separate section which, after acquiring the proper legal clearances from the Clokey estate and SNL, had been titled, 'I'm With Gumby, Dammit' and in the short time it had been up and running, thousands of people had posted their own pictures of travels with their figures.

Rick's pride in his daughter's accomplishments continued to grow, each day seeming to bring a new piece of news that would leave him beaming with pleasure and pride. Black Pawn had already ordered a third printing of Alexis' book and the offers for merchandising and appearances continued to pour in. The website had taken off and two of the publishing company's interns now had full time positions managing the site. Paula and Gina had both been clamoring for some of his time because the publisher wanted to release a collection of his postings and the 'Western' and they'd been hesitant to listen to Alexis, despite the fact that she was his un-official editor and, more importantly, his daughter.

He'd already started legal proceedings to allow Alexis to handle any decisions about anything he'd written and once he got together with her in Los Angeles, he'd make it official. He was sure Paula would rant and rave but he knew that when push came to shove, she'd fall in line, realizing that representing two Rogers was a whole lot better than representing none. Gina would have to come to the same realization because the success of the Nikki Heat franchise, the popular response to his daughter's book and the critical response to his latest writings left Black Pawn with two extremely hot commodities and they wouldn't do anything that might jeopardize that.

The last time he'd spoken with Alexis and told her his plans, she'd immediately announced her plans to have him committed and then squander all of his money. He'd laughed and asked if she'd at least wait until after the premiere before implementing her plans and she'd laughed and agreed before getting serious asking him if he was certain that it was a good idea, suggesting that she might not be the ideal person to have the responsibility. When he'd asked who she'd recommend to handle everything she'd paused and then agreed to his plans after extracting his promise that once he'd come to his senses, he'd resume the responsibility.

With the heavy stuff out of the way, she'd asked him about the package that was still sitting on his desk, finally giving in and opening the box that had a return address in Texas. Her sharp intake of breath had worried him for a moment until she started explaining how beautiful the rattlesnake skin boots were and how much she was looking forward to seeing them on him, promising to bring them with her when she flew out to California for the Nikki Heat premiere that was now less then two months away.

The call had ended and he'd filed away the information about the boots until a picture of them, with Pokey posed standing between them, had appeared on the website. He found himself agreeing with his daughters assessment of them and looking forward to wearing them, already picturing himself making his way down the red carpet, looking ruggedly handsome in a western cut tuxedo and his boots, a stunningly beautiful woman on his arm. He wasn't sure who the woman would be but he secretly hoped it might me the inspiration for the movie's female lead. Thinking about the red carpet led him to thinking about Nikki Heat which would inevitably lead to thoughts of KB.

He'd been gone from Texas for almost six weeks and KB seemed to be staying a step or two behind him. He knew it was Kate and had given serious thought to letting her catch up but conversations with Alexis and Molly had helped steel his resolve, both of the women telling him to continue his travels, not to speed up or slow down, just to continue at whatever pace seemed to feel natural and what would be, would be.

A sudden shout of shock followed by a bark of laughter caught his attention and he looked up just in time to see the group's guide topple backwards off of the cooler he'd been sitting on, the tips of his shoes smoking lightly. Closing his laptop and setting it aside, he got to his feet and started to move towards the campfire but stopped when the guide suddenly started laughing while pointing at the group of concerned faces that had gathered around him. Before a word could be spoken, one of the women rushed up and threw a bucket of water in the general direction of the guide's still smoking shoes, dowsing not only the shoes but the rest of the man as well.

"Thanks, Karen" the man spluttered, moving slowly to get to his feet.

"Your shoes were on fire" the woman answered, the now empty bucket still clutched tightly in her hands, a look of puzzled concern on her face.

"Well, sort of…"

"What the hell do you mean, 'sort of'?" Karen yelled , interrupting the drenched guide who was in the process of pulling one of his shoes off and holding his foot up so that the group gathered around him could see the material that covered half of his foot.

"What's left of one of those fire proof oven mitts" the guide replied, pulling the piece of material from his foot and waving it around while obviously trying to suppress laughter.

"Oh, very funny, you asshole" Karen hissed at him before turning to leave, pausing to give everyone around her the stink eye when they all started laughing.

Rick found himself laughing along, actually impressed at the preparation that went into the latest practical joke. He walked over to the group, planning to congratulate Jim, the group's guide, on the latest prank. Approaching the group, he met Karen's eyes as she stomped away and was surprised to see that there was no anger there, only a look of cold calculation along with what could only be described as an evil grin on her face.

"He's going to pay" she whispered under her breath as she passed Rick and moved towards the tent that she and the other women in the group shared.

Rick smiled as he thought about the series of pranks that had been going on since the first day on the river and wondered what bit of mischief Karen would get up to as part of her payback. He looked over at the rest of the group who had returned to their seats around the campfire and couldn't help smiling at the memory of how he'd happened to meet his current traveling companions.

He'd just finished a pack-mule tour of the Grand Canyon and happened to overhear the woman, who'd led the tour, telling a couple of tourists about her brother's river-raft tour that covered hundreds of miles over a seven day period. Following his gut, he waited until Susan had finished giving the information to the curious couple and they'd walked away before approaching her and asking when her brother's next expedition was leaving and if there might be any open spots. After pulling her phone from her pocket and making a call, he found himself in the middle of a negotiation for a spot that had suddenly opened up on his next trip. Finally agreeing to pay the same price that he'd paid for the pack tour, a promise to mention the trip and the guide in one of his posts on the 'Care and Feeding' website.

After helping Susan clean and feed her mules, he'd accepted her offer of a ride to the launch point the next morning after convincing her to let him treat her to dinner. He'd slept that night in the barn and been awakened the next morning to Susan hollering for him to get his 'pampered ass' up and moving so they could make the trip. He'd smiled and was sitting in the passenger seat of the truck within ten minutes and was about to lean over and honk the horn when Susan had appeared with two travel cups of fresh coffee and two breakfast rolls.

"So, you don't want coffee and a roll?" Susan had asked, having caught him in mid-lean, his hand half way to the steering wheel.

"I was going to make sure there wasn't any dust on your steering wheel" he'd answered, knowing full well that he'd been caught and smiling when she'd rolled her eyes, reminding him of another 'eye-roller' he knew.

"Sure you were, Rick" she'd answered with a smile and, after handing the cups and rolls through the window, climbed into the truck and, after delivering a thump to his ear, started the vehicle.

The trip had taken about two hours and after Susan had introduced him to her brother and said her goodbyes, Rick was introduced to the group that he'd be joining for the raft trip. It turned out that the four women and three men were all college professors who had been planning the trip for over a year and had nearly canceled the voyage when the eighth member of their party had broken his leg and couldn't make the trip. At his urging, the seven friends decided to make the trip without him and Rick had licked into the empty spot.

As the introductions were made, Rick couldn't help smiling at the reaction that his name elicited from the rest of the group which ranged from interest to indifference. His travels, as he worked on his 'bucket list', had been an eye opening and, in some cases, humbling experience for him. He'd always been comfortable with his ego but the many people he'd met had helped him come to realize that he really was just a person who'd gotten incredibly lucky. He'd always believed he was a good writer but it had only been recently that he come to realize that he could be even better and, as much as it pained him to admit it, it took Kate distancing herself from him to make him grow.

The raft trip got underway shortly after his arrival and the days that followed had been filled with beauty and hard work. Rick wasn't sure what he'd been expecting but had been surprised by the amount of work that the group had been thrown into. He silently thanked Jeremy at the end of the first leg of the journey when he realized his 'chores' on the ranch had actually left him in the best shape he'd been in since college and he'd been dragging less than several of the younger members of the expedition.

The first night had involved everyone pitching in the set up a camp and, after everyone wolfed down a meal , a couple hours of 'getting to know you' type of conversation around the campfire. Rick had been pleased to find that everyone seemed to be more impressed with his daughter's book and website than with his own body of work and they'd asked quite a few more questions about her than about him. He'd gladly answered every question and smiled when three members of the group had produced their own plastic figures and announced their plans to document their trip and send off pictures to the 'I'm With Gumby, Dammit' page. Rick had laughed out loud when the one married couple, who happened to be economics professors, had produced 'Blockhead' figures and a professor of contemporary fiction had brought along a Godzilla the stood almost 12 inches tall.

The next five days had been much the same as the first with everyone relaxing into a easy camaraderie that included raising with the sun and spending the day enjoying the beautiful scenery and the early evenings gathered around a campfire and talking about whatever with the topic often changing several times before everyone would drag themselves to their tents, the days workout making for an early bedtime.

The second day out had seen the first practical joke and each consecutive day saw more pranks that had culminated with Jim's burning shoes. None of the jokes had been malicious and everyone would laugh, including the 'victim', although it might take a little longer for that person to join in. Usually the 'victim' would become the perpetrator and pick a new victim. The third morning, Rick had awoken to find his shoes filled with mud, sticks and stones that had hardened to an almost concrete like consistency. While the rest of the group had snickered to themselves, he'd spent almost twenty minutes getting his footwear cleared of debris while plotting.

That night, he'd waited until everyone had finished their meals and then he'd held up an empty Visine bottle and asked if everyone liked the secret ingredient he'd included in the evening meal. The look of disbelief and panic on everyone's face had been worth it and when he'd explained that he hadn't really added anything, everyone had yelled that it wasn't funny but, within minutes, they'd all started chuckling and warning Rick to sleep with one eye open.

The pranks the next few days had been directed at other members of the group and after Jim had pulled the 'shoes on fire' gag, Rick almost breathed a sigh of relief, sure that he'd be safe since the next day would be their last before reaching the terminus of their trip. When Karen returned to the campfire, a small smile on her face, everyone had fallen into talking about their plans for after the trip and, almost an hour later, everyone said their goodnights and left Rick sitting by himself, his laptop once again resting on his thighs as he put the finishing touches on the 'Western' that he'd begun almost two months before.

After dotting the last of the 'I's and crossing the last 'T's, he saved the document and then added a quick note before sending it off to Alexis. He still had no idea where the story had come from or how he'd managed to complete the novel in less than eight weeks while still posting daily updates to his 'travelogue' and, truth be told, he wasn't really concerned with finding the source.

After powering down the laptop, he leaned back in the camp chair and closed his eyes as he listened to the sounds of the river moving past the campsite. The soft, rhythmic lapping of tiny waves as they reached to river bank reminded him of the steady, rhythmic sound that seemed to vibrate throughout the entire steam ship that he'd spent almost two weeks aboard, cruising on the Mississippi River.

The first night on the paddle wheeler had found him unable to sleep, the steady thrumming under his feet seemed to urge him to go topside and he'd spent hours walking about the upper deck, pausing often at the side rail to watch the dark waters flow past and to wonder what he was missing on the shoreline as it slipped away behind them. After completing the circuit of the deck, he found a deck chair near the rear of the boat and he sat down, watching as the dripping paddles of the stern drive rolled around as they pushed him along on the latest part of his journey.

He'd been sitting and watching for almost an hour when a ghost appeared at his side…at least he told himself it was a ghost and if the figure hadn't spoken to him, had simply turned and disappeared back to where it had come from, he might very well have been telling the 'ghost story' for years.

"Mind if I join you for a spell?" the visitor had asked, gesturing towards the chair next to him.

"Uh, sure" Rick replied after doing a double take when he saw the source of the question, "Mr' Clemens?"

"JT Palmer, at our service" the older man replied as he extended a hand after lowering himself into the empty seat.

"Rick Castle" he answered as he shook the offered hand. "I'm sure you hear it all the time but…"

"Yeah, that's my job."

"Your job?"

"Yes, I finally gave into my friend's suggestions and made use of my resemblance to Sam and got a job as a greeter on this steam ship. I get to spend my time cruising the Mississippi, playing poker in the Grand Salon and meeting lots of new folks."

"That sounds like an interesting way to make a living" Rick replied, still amazed at the man's resemblance to one of his favorite authors.

"Well, it's not as rewarding as teaching but, after retiring, it beats sitting around the house and watching Wheel of Fortune" he replied as he pulled a pipe from his jacket's pocket. "Do you mind?" he asked, motioning with the pipe in his hands.

"Not at all" Rick had answered and watched silently as the actor slowly stoked the pipe and then eased back into the chair. Deciding to let the man set the pace, he waited until the man finally turned and spoke again.

The rest of the night was spent in friendly conversation and before he'd realized what had happened, the sun had begun to lighten the eastern sky. Getting slowly to his feet, he thanked the older man for the company and, after promising to find him that evening in the casino, bade him goodnight.

The rest of the trip had included nightly visits to the Grand Salon and hours spent sitting at the poker table, smiling, as JT, as Samuel Clemens, would tell stories of his life on the Mississippi. The nights would often end with an hour spent on the top deck, listening at the older man would talk about his life and the kids he'd taught through the years while they would enjoy snifters of brandy.

The last night on the cruise had found Rick caught up in a high stakes poker game that left him with almost fifty thousand dollars worth of chips eventually making their way into his hands and, after a visit to the teller, into his pocket in the form of pre-loaded credit cards. Shaking his head as he left the casino, he couldn't believe that, despite his plans to travel frugally, he ended up with enough money to finish his journey to California.

An owl's screech broke Rick from his memories and, after getting slowly to his feet, he made his way to the tent, looking forward to the final day on the river.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

After finishing up the raft trip, he'd found a lawyer and finalized his plans to give Alexis the power to make decisions concerning everything that he'd written. Once everything had been drawn up, he signed on the dotted lines and shipped everything off to his daughter, promising her that if everything got to be too much, he'd find someone else to handle it. Leaving the lawyer's office, he'd found a cheap hotel and, after taking a long, hot shower, had ordered room service. While waiting for the ordered food, he sat on the bed's edge and powered up his laptop.

Rick looked down at the email that Alexis had sent, informing him that Black Pawn wanted to purchase his 'Western' and, sight unseen, several big name Hollywood production companies were bidding for the film rights to the story. Paula and Gina were still clamoring for 'face time' with him and Paula had even threatened to hire a private detective to track him down and drag him back to New York. He laughed out loud when he read that his daughter had threatened to take his latest book to another publisher and the sudden improvement in the attitudes of both his agent and his ex-wife when she offered them the phone number of the lawyer that was handling to paperwork that would give her control of everything he'd written during the last year, including the fourth and fifth Nikki Heat novels.

He'd finished the email and then logged onto the 'Care and Feeding' website and was just about to check the 'I'm With Gumby, Dammit' page when a knock sounded at the hotel room door. His stomach growled as he got to his feet and he found himself smiling in anticipation of the food that he was sure was waiting for him in the hallway. Stepping to the door, he turned the knob, pulled it open and then struggled to breath as the air in his lungs seemed to have disappeared.

"Hi, um, can we talk?"

"Kate?"

**A/N2: **Next chapter, Kate's journey to the doorway. Thoughts?


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay…life and all that. Hope this one's ok and worth the wait. I hope to get back to Detective Lessons some time soon and, of course, my Chuck stuff. Thanks to everyone who's alerted, favorited and, of course, taken the time to review. It really is nice to hear your thoughts about my scribbles. Remember, my ownership of Castle is limited to dvds.,.but that's something, at least. I'm not making money at this but I'm still having fun so, thanks Jim.

This one's for Oldestman. _**JT**_

**Castle - The Bucket List - Chapter 10**

Kate Becket stared at the dull reflection on the door's surface, noting the outline of her body which seemed to be frozen in place. Her right hand was raised, her fingers curled into her palm forming the fist that was poised to rap at the hotel room door. She was sure that her brain was sending the signals needed to bring her knuckles into contact with the barrier but her body seemed to be ignoring the command, choosing instead to stand frozen within striking distance of the barrier that stood between her heart and the man she had come to realize that she needed to make her heart complete.

'Come on Kate, you can do this' she told herself after she thought that her body had ignored a second command to knock on the door. 'Knock on the door, get Rick to listen to you and then tell him that you were incredibly stupid and you need him. He'll listen…he has to listen' she explained to herself, hoping her body would listen and cede control back to her brain.

Her fist still refused to move and she found herself wondering what it would take to force her fist to announce her presence to the room's occupant. How could knocking on a door be any tougher than chasing down a van full of kids, ready to fight for Rick's attention against the blonde that she'd heard had been staring at him with, as the old couple she'd spent a few hours talking with, 'lustful eyes'.

She remembered spending several days in New Orleans, trying to find her wayward author, visiting a few volunteer groups who were connected with people doing home repairs. When she'd finally found the agency that had overseen the group that Rick had been with and had convinced the director that her intentions were lawful, she'd been directed to the small house that had a new roof, new doors and a fresh coat of paint. The old couple had greeted her warmly, still riding the joyous feeling that the small group had provided by doing the repairs to their home.

After being invited into their home and taking the tour where the charming couple had pointed out all of the repairs that had been made to the home they had lived in for almost sixty years, she'd been fed a delicious dinner while she listened to the stories of the young people and their chaperones who'd worked the miracle. After eating, she'd looked through the same scrapbook that Rick had seen and then, while enjoying a glass of iced tea, looked through the pictures of the workers as they had made their home safe for them once again.

She'd felt her breath catch in her chest when she saw the picture of a smiling Richard Castle, a sheet of plywood balanced against his shoulder. His sweaty t-shirt clung to his chest and she'd caught herself staring at the barely concealed muscles of his upper body and wishing she'd been here to watch him work and, if she was being honest with herself, had been there to help him shower off the dirt and sweat after the long day's work.

Taking note of the look that had been on her face, the old couple had both chuckled and the older woman had pointed out that Kate had the same look on her face that the blonde chaperone had had on hers. When she'd asked what her host had meant, the older woman had merely smiled and answered, 'that hunger and need that a woman has for her man' before turning to smile at her husband who returned the smile.

After looking through the entire stack of pictures and taking a second, longer look at a few of them, she'd gotten around to asking if the couple had any idea where the group had been heading. After exchanging knowing looks and smiles, they'd informed her that the group were headed back to Kansas, neglecting to mention that Rick wouldn't be with them. After finishing her tea and taking a couple of the pictures that had really caught her attention, smiling when the couple had laughed while pushing them into her hands, she'd bid her goodbyes and promised to let them know how things worked out when she 'caught her man', as the old woman put it.

By the time she'd gotten her next clue, the hour was late and she'd decided to find a motel room instead of trying to take off after Rick with only a vague idea of where to go. She'd spent an hour on her laptop, glad that free Wi-fi was included with her night's rent, and when she'd checked out the next morning, she had the most likely route to Kansas loaded into her GPS.

Knowing that Kansas had more than one exit on one highway, she'd stopped again at the office of the group that had first directed her in the direction of Rick. The receptionist had been on the verge of giving her the information she needed when her boss had appeared and, after giving Kate a quick once over, had invited her into his office so he could 'straighten things out'.

Noticing the slight eye roll from the young woman behind the desk, she'd walked into the office expecting a run around while the man ogled her. Before he had a chance to say a word, Kate had pulled her badge from her pocket and informed him that if he had any questions, he was more than welcome to call her boss, even offering to dial the phone for him. She saw the sudden shift in his eyes and realized that the guy wasn't so much skeevy as an opportunist who recognized that he didn't have a chance. After taking a close look at her badge and making a note of the number, he'd slipped into 'professional' mode.

Within minutes Kate had walked out of the office with all the information she needed to find the blonde who'd been staring at her writer. She remembered wondering where the sudden possessive feeling she had towards Rick Castle had come from and then shaking her head when she realized that she'd thought of him as hers for quite a while but it had only been recently that she'd decided to explain it to him, looking forward to seeing the look in his eyes when she told him that he was off the market.

She'd spent two days on the road, her eyes automatically doing an inspection of any white van she happened to pass, often slowing when she approached any highway rest areas, telling herself she wasn't going to take the risk of getting ahead of her quarry. She'd given serious thought to taking a side trip to the city that had re-named itself Smallville, sure that Rick would've visited the Superman Museum, but told herself that there was a blonde that she needed to see about a man.

When she'd finally caught up with Sam, deciding that bracing her at work might work out better that just showing up at the woman's home, she'd barely stepped into the woman's office when the blonde was out of her chair and headed her way with a knowing smile on her face. Before she could move, she'd found herself pulled into a hug and then released just as quickly. While she was still trying to figure out what had just happened and why, the woman who she'd spent the last two days planning to confront stepped back and smiled.

"Kate, right?" the woman had asked.

"Um…yeah" she'd answered, still trying rid herself of all the images of a man stealing harpie that had been running through her head ever since she'd first heard about her.

"I guess I can see why" she'd said with a resigned smile. "Coffee?"

"Uh…yes, please" Kate had answered and then found herself moving to follow the woman as she walked towards the coffee station that was tucked into a corner of the small office.

Kate still wasn't sure how it had happened but thirty minutes after walking into the small office, loaded and ready for bear, she'd walked out with a soft smile on her face and a pretty good idea of where Rick had gone after leaving the group in New Orleans. Sam had charmed her and before leaving, she'd found herself telling the other woman about the stupidity that had led to her pushing Rick away.

"Kate, I tried to get him into bed" the blonde had confessed to her with a sad look on her face. "He told me no because someone else had his heart. I'm betting that's you. You just need to get him to listen…before it's too late. He might always love you but not always want you, if you know what I mean" Sam had told her before telling her about Rick's plans to cruise the Mississippi aboard a steamship.

After thanking the other woman and announcing her plans to get back on the road, Sam had begged her to let her pose for a picture with Goo, laughingly telling Kate about Rick's reaction to the posting of the picture of the little blue figure and the 'Welcome To New Orleans' sign. When she'd handed over the little figure and then pulled out her phone, Sam had posed the figure on her desk and quickly scribbled something on a piece of paper that she held up behind the toy.

_Rick, Listen to her! _she'd written and then held the note in front of her, smiling at the camera. Kate found herself oddly moved by the woman's gesture and added her name to the growing list of people she'd have to thank once her journey was over.

She remembered sitting in her jeep and doing a quick Google on Mississippi river boats before entering new coordinates into her GPS and getting back on the road. The thought that she'd fallen even farther behind Rick than she'd been when she'd arrived in New Orleans had been troubling but she refused to let it get her down, sure that she'd be seeing him soon.

The sound of a door slamming brought her out of the memories she'd been browsing through and she looked to her left to find a man heading away from her, his hands filled with luggage. The sight of the bags in the man's hands reminded her of the duffle that was slung over her left shoulder, filled with several changes of clothes and a few things she'd picked up to give to Rick. Thinking about the bags contents reminded her of her first stop after leaving Sam's office.

She'd already mapped out her route to the Mississippi but had decided at the last moment to add a stop to trip, convincing herself that a little side trip wouldn't put her much farther behind than she already was. She smiled at the memory of the visit to 'Smallville' and the t-shirt and boxers she'd purchased there, picturing how Rick would look in them. She'd told herself that Rick's ego couldn't get any bigger so giving him clothes with the Man of Steel's logo would be harmless.

The visit to the Superman Museum had provided a much needed break and she found herself making a promise to bring Rick back here after she'd found him and gotten past his foolish notion that he didn't need her in his life.

After getting back on the highway, she'd pushed the jeep a little hard and, somehow, managed to avoid any speeding tickets during the trip to the small town that served as one of the embarkation/debarkation points for the steam boats that cruised the Mississippi. Once there, she'd picked the first day cruise and set off on her 'Castle hunt', asking the staff aboard the boat if any of them had seen her missing writer. She'd also been watching for Samuel Clemon's portrayers and after the third day, realized that each boat seemed to have their own.

She'd begun to think that she'd never catch a break after a night time 'Murder Mystery Cruise' had almost gotten ugly when she'd solved the crime within the first five minutes and she'd spent the rest of the trip sitting on the upper deck, avoiding the rest of the passengers who would glare at her for spoiling their fun.

Two days later, just as she was about to give up and call Alexis and beg for her help, a new clue presented itself. She'd been sitting on the upper deck at the stern of the boat, watching the paddle wheel turn and allowing herself to be lulled , almost to sleep, by the rhythmic thumping of the engine and the paddles as they churned their way through the water. Just as her eyes were beginning to close, a voice at her shoulder startled her wide-awake when he called her Kate and asked if he might join her.

Looking to her side, she almost choked on her drink when she caught sight of the owner of the voice and before she could say a word, the Samuel Clemons look-alike slid into the vacant seat next to hers.

"Rick was right, you truly are beautiful" her sudden companion said as he'd pulled a pipe from his pocket and after a questioning nod, proceeded to light up when he hadn't gotten a 'no' from her.

"You met Rick?" she'd asked, hoping she'd found the clue she needed.

"Yes in deedy. In fact, we spent many evening's sitting in this very spot, enjoying a drink and chatting. He speaks of you in an almost reverential tone, when he isn't bemoaning ever meeting you" he'd replied.

"He regrets ever meeting me?" she'd asked, suddenly struggling to hold the tears that the older man's words had brought to her eyes.

"No, not at all. I could tell he was telling' a tall one whenever he said that. I could see it in his eyes. That man loves you something fierce but I get the feeling that he's not sure that's the great thing he once thought it was. I think you need to catch that young man before he can talk himself out of the love he feels" the older man had told her and smiled when she'd nodded enthusiastically.

"Do you know where he is?" Kate had asked, mentally crossing her fingers and toes.

"Well, I couldn't say, exactly…"

"What, did Rick tell you not to tell me?" Kate had demanded, afraid that might actuall be the case.

"No, slow down there Kate. He didn't speak of a specific destination. He mentioned Mount Rushmore and that comment led to talk about Stone Mountain in Georgia and, somehow, that led to talk about the Grand Canyon. I honestly don't know what way he might have decided to wander" he said, pausing to stoke his pipe back to life before speaking again. "After winning all that money, I couldn't begin to guess at his next destination. Who knows, maybe he feels lucky and hightailed it for Las Vegas."

"All what money?" Kate couldn't help herself asking.

"He won fifty-thousand at the poker table the last night he was on board and then got off at the same stop I call home. We both left at the same time, along with most of the wait staff. There was some "Mystery Murder Cruise' and a whole new staff takes over whenever them things happen."

"Dammit" Kate had cursed and, after telling her temporary companion of her run in with the 'Mystery ' cruise, she'd finally given in and joined him, laughing at the near miss. They'd talked for several hours and when she'd left the boat, the old man had been there to see her off and had even agreed to pose for a photo with Goo, admitting that he'd posed with Gumby before Rick had said his goodbyes.

Not sure where to go next, she'd been about to try calling Jeremy or Molly when the latest posting on the "Care and Feeding' website had given her a new clue. Programming the GPS, she'd headed for the Grand Canyon.

The sound of an elevator dinging it's arrival jarred her back to the hallway and she was shocked to find that her hand was still refusing her orders, frozen half way to the solid surface that was the temporary barrier between her and Richard Castle. Looking to her side, she found a hotel employee wheeling a cart in her direction, obviously bringing room service to someone. Just as she was about to finally introduce her knuckles to the door in front of her, the cart and it's source of movement came to a stop next to her.

"Is that for Mr. Castle?" she'd asked and when the young man had nodded affirmatively, she'd convinced him to leave the cart after promising to make sure it was delivered and then offering a huge tip.

Lifting her hand with a new sense of purpose, she ordered the knuckles forward and they obeyed. After the third knock, she stepped back and moved the service cart into the doorway, putting it between her and whoever answered the door. She knew she'd have to confess her 'abuse of power' when Rick asked how she'd found him, promising herself to leave out the name of her connection at the 12th who'd finally caved to her pleading and told her the last spot Rick had used a credit card. She'd actually tracked him trough the raft trip but lost him there and had finally had enough. She needed to see him and that was that.

Her mouth suddenly felt dry as she noticed the door knob turning and sooner than she was ready, she found herself staring into the blue eyes that she'd been missing for far too long.

"Hi, um, can we talk?"

**A/N: **Next? The TALK! Thoughts?


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **Not sure why but this one seemed to drag…hope it isn't too obvious. Sorry for the delay…no excuse, just busy. Hey Oldestman, hope it passes muster. Thanks to everyone who has had the patience to wait for this. Thanks to everyone who's alerted and/or favorited this collection of scribbles. Also, thanks to those of you who took the time to share your thoughts with me…I must apologize if I haven't responded to reviews, I'll try and do better. As a reminder, I don't own Castle or any of the characters from the show ands, somehow or other, I'm still not making money writing this twaddle. Hey Jim, thanks for the nudge. _**JT**_

_Previously : _

"_Kate?"_

And away we go…

**Castle – The Bucket List – Chapter 11**

"Hey, Cas…uh, Rick. Room service?" Kate offered, moving to push the cart through the open doorway, a hesitant smile failing to hide the look of worry that filled her eyes.

"And if I'd ordered a massage?" Rick asked, hoping the question would serve to hide his own confusion.

"Well, I guess I would have gotten my hands dirty, so to speak" Kate replied, stepping into the room, her hands gripping the handle of the cart, her knuckles white due to her death grip on the stainless steel bar. "So…can we talk?"

"I guess we should" he answered while moving to guide the service cart further into the room, his eyes never leaving hers. "Uh, Kate, would you mind getting the door?"

"Right, of course" she replied, releasing her hold on the handle and turning to push the door shut. After straightening up and taking a deep breath, she turned back around and froze, her eyes finally telling her brain that Rick Castle wasn't dressed. 'How the holy hell did I miss that?' Kate asked herself, taking in the sight of her ex-shadow, standing in front of her wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. The sight of his still damp hair filled her mind with images of a naked and soapy man, his blue eyes beckoning to her, wordlessly inviting her to join him.

"Did you want to get dressed?" she asked after pushing the images of a naked Rick from her mind and fighting against her mouth that was suddenly dry.

"I figured we do this topless" Rick answered with a smile.

"Ok" Kate answered without hesitation, her hands already starting to work at the top button of her shirt.

"Whoa, Kate. I was just kidding."

"I wasn't" Kate answered, her hands still working at the button. "Whatever it takes to get you to let me talk."

"Kate, stop" he said, closing the distance between them and gently taking her hands in his, pulling them away from the front of her shirt. "Give me a minute to throw on some clothes and then we'll talk. Make yourself comfortable" he instructed her before turning and walking over to the duffle bag that was sitting on a chair near the bathroom. After rifling through the contents, he grabbed some clothes and then disappeared into the en suite.

Kate finally found the strength to move and after taking a shaky breath, she stepped over to the bed and sat down. While running a shaky hand through her hair, she looked up and noticed that Rick had forgotten to close the bathroom door. Before she could decide if she should move or simply close her eyes, the towel that had been around his waist found it's way to the floor.

"Holy crap!" she whispered to herself, the sight of Rick's naked back reminding her of the thoughts she'd managed to push away just moments before.

"What? Oh sorry, Kate. Didn't mean to flash you" Rick said before gently closing the door.

Letting her head drop, Kate found herself staring down at her shoes, trying to get her breathing to return to normal and hoping the blush that she was sure covered her entire upper body would fade before the bathroom door opened again.

Lifting her head, she did a quick survey of the room and couldn't help laughing when she caught sight of Gumby, standing on the small table on the other side of the bed. Getting to her feet, she walked around the bed and had just picked up the figure when the door to the bathroom swung open and Rick stood in the doorway, a smile playing across his face as he watched Kate scramble to return his green traveling companion to his resting place.

"Saying hello?" Rick asked, moving from the doorway to the room service cart. Lifting the cover from the largest plate, he grabbed a couple of French fries and, after popping them into his mouth, moved around the cart and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Hungry?" Rick asked, gesturing towards the cheeseburger and fries.

"Uh, I'm not sure I could eat right now" Kate answered after returning the plastic toy to it's original position.

"Coffee? Or I could order you a beer, if you'd like."

"Yeah, coffee, that would be great" she responded, moving back around the bed and taking the offered cup of coffee while moving to sit down near Rick.

"So, detective, you had something you wanted to say?" Rick asked while dragging a couple of fries through some ketchup and then popping them into his mouth.

"Yeah…you're a hard man to find, Rick."

"You knew where I was, everyday, for close to four years" Rick replied, his voice not showing an hint of emotion.

"I knew where you were but I didn't know just how much I needed you…in my life."

"I thought I was in your life, Kate" Rick replied, calmly cutting the cheeseburger in half and taking a bite from one of the halves.

"You were Rick, but I guess I just didn't know…I didn't know just how much I needed you."

"And you suddenly found this out, when?" he asked after chewing and then swallowing some of his dinner.

"I think I might have known for a long time but it wasn't until Josh asked me to marry him…"

"Josh proposed?" Rick asked, his voice finally beginning to show some edge.

" Yes, and when I looked at that tiny, blue velvet box, I realized that there was only one man that I wanted holding a box like that…you" Kate said, her eyes dropping to her lap where her hands seemed to be wrestling with each other.

After what seemed like minutes, Kate looked up to find Rick staring at her with a questioning look.

"Is that all you wanted to say, Kate? Your posts left the impression that you had a lot that you wanted to tell me and, to be honest, I'm sorta under whelmed here" Rick said, reaching out to snag a couple more fires. "Well?"

"Rick, I, uh, I love you, Rick Castle" Kate said softly. "I know that I hurt you when I pushed you away and…"

"Hurt, Kate? Watching you with other men, that hurt! Watching you die, that hurt! Having you push me out of your life while you kept Josh, I don't think I can begin to describe how that felt, Kate."

"But I pushed him out, Rick."

"And how was I supposed to know that? You claim that you made a decision about who you wanted in your life but you didn't bother to tell me, Kate. I stood next to that hospital bed and you told me you'd call…and what did you do, Kate?"

"I didn't call…"

"That's right…you didn't call. I waited, each day hurting a little more than the last as the phone call I needed never came" Rick said, the look of deep hurt in his eyes not given away by his steady voice. "I sat and waited. I wrote and waited. I drank and waited. I pushed my daughter and my mother and everyone who cared about me away while I waited for your call. I waited, Kate, and you didn't call. Why?"

"I…I was afraid, Rick, and the more time passed, the more I feared that you wouldn't take my call. I hoped you'd ignore what I said, like you usually did, and call me. I spent hours staring at my phone, hoping you'd…"

"I'd what, Kate? Ignore what you told me and call? Kate, when I held you in my arms and told you that…"

"You told me that you loved me, Rick, You told me not to leave and that you loved me, Rick. Did you mean it?"

"How could you ask me that, Kate? I know you're not stupid…or blind. How could you possibly question what I'd said? Did you honestly believe that I followed you all that time just to get 'nuggets' for my books?"

"No, I knew Rick. I guess I'd known for a while and then…"

"And then?"

"You said it, Rick. You told me you loved me and I remember the look in your eyes. I saw the fear and…"

"I thought you were going to die, Kate. Of course I was afraid."

"And I saw the love, Rick, and it terrified me. I was more afraid of your love than I was of dying."

"How is that possible, Kate? Please, make me understand. How is it possible to be more afraid of loving me than dying? That makes no sense at all" Rick pleaded, his voice finally beginning to show some of the disbelief that was so plain to see in his eyes.

"Because dying would just be the end but, if I screwed things up and lost your love, I'm sure that would be worse…if that makes any sense at all."

"Lose my love? What the hell are you talking about? Do you think that my love is some shallow temporary thing? Something that I give away frivolously and then…wait, is that it? Do you really know so little about me that you think my love for you was some sort of temporary thing? That I'd spend three years with you and then throw all that time away after I tricked you into falling into love with me? Jesus, Kate, really?"

"No Rick" she almost yelled back at him, getting to her feet and starting to pace the short distance between the bed and the door, "I didn't think you were trying to trick me into loving you! I know you're not a shallow man…not at all. I know that whatever there is between us is incredibly strong and I was terrified that you'd realize that I wasn't worthy of your love…that you'd peel one layer too many of the 'Beckett onion' and see just how damaged I really am and then…" Kate whispered at him, coming to stand directly in front of him and staring down at him with tears making their way down her cheeks, "…then, Rick, my 'one and done' would realize he could do so much better and then I'd be alone again…alone and broken beyond repair" she managed to choke out as she sank to her knees in front of him. Without hesitation, she threw her arms around his waist and pulled herself into him, her face coming to rest against his chest.

"Kate…"

"Please, Rick, don't be over me" she sobbed into his t-shirt. "Don't send me away…because I don't know where I'd go. "

"Kate…I don't think I'll ever be over you."

"Really Rick?" Kate asked, leaning out from his chest so she could look up at his face.

"I'm afraid so" he answered softly, reaching a hand to cup her jaw, using a thumb to gently wipe a tear from her cheek, "and I don't know what to do about it, Kate. I'm so pissed at you, Katherine Beckett, and I don't know what to do about that, either."

"Marry me and make me spend the rest of my life making it up to you?" Kate replied with a look in her eyes that seemed to vacillate between fear and hope.

"What?" Rick asked, grabbing her shoulders and pushing her a little further away from his chest. "Are you serious?"

Pulling the hem of his t-shirt from his sweats, Kate wiped her eyes and then blew her nose before looking into his eyes. "Yes?"

"I seem to recall you saying you're a 'one and done' type of woman, Kate. Are you saying that I'm your 'one and done'? he asked looking down at the front of his shirt that was now soaked through with tears and snot.

"You are, Rick" she answered, letting her eyes drop from his and settling on the spot he'd just been looking at. "I'm sorry about your t-shirt" she said with a sniffle and then dropped her arms from around his waist. Getting back to her feet, she turned and walked towards the door.

"Leaving already?" Rick asked incredulously, wondering what the hell was going on. 'Kate just suggested that we get married and now she's leaving?' Rick asked himself.

"No, of course not. I'm not leaving until you tell me to go" she replied while bending down and rifling through the bag she'd left sitting by the door. "I just thought that since I made such a mess of your t-shirt, I should find you another one to wear" she added before straightening back up and turning to face him.

Rick watched as Kate shook her hands and then smiled at the _Property of Smallville High Athletic Department _logo on the front of the t-shirt hanging from her hands.

"I bought this for you" Kate said as she walked back to stand in front of him. Changing her hold on the garment from two to one-handed, she held out her now empty hand and snapped her fingers. "Off with it" she demanded.

"You're being really bossy, all of a sudden. I don't seem to recall saying yes to your proposal, Miss Beckett."

"I'm sorry, Rick" Kate responded, the small smile on her face disappearing rather quickly. "I just thought that you might like to get that 'snotty' thing off…I'm sorry."

"Kate, it's alright" he said while pulling the t-shirt over his head. "I'll trade you" he added while holding out Kate's impromptu handkerchief towards her.

Kate found herself staring again at the sight of a shirtless Richard Castle.

"Kate. Earth to Kate" Rick said before reaching out and softly flicking the tip of her nose.

"Ow! What was that for, Castle?"

"It's not polite to stare, Kate. Didn't anyone ever tell you that?" Rick asked with a chuckle while taking the new t-shirt from her hand while draping the wet t-shirt over her outstretched arm.

"I wasn't…"

"Yes you were, Kate. I caught you red-handed and it really isn't that big a deal but I'd really appreciate it if you'd refrain from lying to me, even about something as silly as me catching you ogling me, Ok?" Rick said with just a trace of a smile on his lips, obviously not overly amused with the way the conversation was drifting.

"You're right, Rick and I'm sorry for fibbing to you" Kate replied, realizing that despite the few smiles they'd exchanged, they were still on treacherous ground and unless she wanted to drive him away, she needed to keep that in mind. "I was staring. Jeremy said that he'd worked off some of your 'writer's fat' and I was just admiring the view" she added before ducking her head and then turning around to put the 'dirty' t-shirt into her bag.

"So, Detective Beckett, how does the t-shirt look?" Rick asked as he pretended to flex for her after reaching up and pulling a curl down the middle of his forehead.

"Super. The curl definitely completes the look" she admitted with a smile.

"That's exactly what I was going for" he replied before returning to his spot on the bed, reaching out and snagging a few more fries from the plate in front of him. "So, where were we, Detective?"

"I was begging you to forgive me for being such a bitch to you" Kate said while moving to sit back down next to Rick. Reaching out, she picked up the cup of coffee she'd been working on before she'd become a blubbering mess. "Well, Rick?"

"How did you find me, Kate?" he asked, changing to topic and enjoying the look of confusion on his muse's face.

"I, uh…what?"

"How did you find me?"

"I begged Espo to run your financials and he told me that you used a credit card to secure this room."

"Nice abuse of power, Kate. Just out of curiosity, why did you wait so long to ask the guys for help?"

"Uh, they've been watching your credit cards and this is the first time you've used one since Key West. I didn't know about that until I contacted them yesterday. Except for your posts on the 'Care and Feeding' website, you've been off the grid. I came close a few times but after missing you on the raft trip, I called the boys and begged them to help. They called me back and steered me in your direction. They both said to say 'hi' and to thank you for the invitations to the premiere. Lanie said the same thing, by the way."

"It'll be great to see them all. Are you planning to attend the premiere?"

"As long as I can find a date. I'd hate to have to walk the red carpet alone."

"Really? Any idea who you're going to be taking?"

"Yeah, there's this guy who I'm hoping will ask me. I just have to convince him that I'm worth the effort."

"So, do I know this guy?" Rick asked before popping the last of the first half of the cheeseburger into his mouth..

"Of course you do, Rick. It's you."

"Really? But I already have a date" Rick answered with a straight face. "In fact, I've got three women who are going to be attending the event with me."

"Three? Really, Rick?" Kate asked, suddenly curious and, if she was honest with herself, a little jealous at the thought of other women hanging on Rick's arms.

"Yeah, although I guess you could be part of my 'Goddess train', if you'd like."

"I could what, Charlie?" Kate replied. "What, are you suddenly drinking 'Tiger's blood?" she asked, moving a little closer and reaching a hand towards his ear.

"Truce, Kate" Rick announced, taking Kate's hand in his own. "I thought you might like joining Alexis, mother and Molly."

"Are you asking me, Rick?"

"Yeah, Kate, I am" he answered, giving the hand trapped between his a gentle squeeze.

"I'd love to" she answered, wondering why her eyes suddenly felt full again.

"Great. So, do you want to meet us there or…"

"I don't want to meet you there, Rick."

"Meet us at the hotel, then?"

"I don't want to meet you at the hotel, Rick."

"Well, where would you like to meet, Kate? I have a few more places to visit before the premiere and…"

"Take me with you, Rick."

"Take you with me? Don't you have to get back to work, Kate?"

"No" Kate responded and then noticed the disbelieving look in Rick's eyes. "I took an extended leave, Rick. I told the Captain that I had something that I had to take care of and I wouldn't be back until I had. So where are we going next?"

"Next?"

"Yeah. I thought we could talk and travel, Rick. Plus, I thought Gumby could use a new traveling companion. So, what's still on your 'list', Rick?"

"Well, I thought abut seeing the Hoover dam and Lake Meed…of course, I'll have to stop in Vegas. I've been there before, of course, but Gumby hasn't and I wouldn't want him to miss out."

"Of course not, Rick" Kate answered and then got to her feet, releasing her hold on Rick's hand and walking over to her bag. Moments later she turned back around, a small blue figure held in her hand. "And I'm sure Goo would enjoy seeing all the sights as well."

"After Vegas, I was planning to head for San Diego…maybe spend a night in the mountains before dropping down into the city. It's been a few years since I've been to the zoo and I've always wondered about Blacks Beach…"

"Somehow, Rick, I can't picture you at a nude beach…"

"Why, detective Beckett, have you been picturing me nude at other locations?" Rick asked with a smile and a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Well, you did steal a police horse and seem to have been lacking clothes at the time."

"That's not an answer to the question I asked, detective" Rick pointed out before lifting a cup of coffee to his lips.

"I'd be happy to answer that question…once we're at Blacks Beach" Kate said with a smile and her own answering eyebrow wiggle.

"What?" Rick coughed out, glad that he didn't have any coffee in his mouth because 'spit takes', while amusing, weren't exactly sexy.

"Rick, I'm not going to let you take Gumby to a nude beach without proper supervision. Now, what do you have planned for tonight?"

"Well I was planning to finish my meal and then relaxing. I have to post another update and then I'm going to turn in."

"Would it be alright if I hung out for a while?" Kate asked while reaching out to grab the last half of the cheeseburger.

"Hungry?"

"Yeah, I just discovered that I am. Do you mind?" she managed to ask around a mouthful of food.

"Not at all, Kate. Want to share my desert while hanging out?" Rick asked, lifting the cover from another plate to reveal a huge piece of chocolate cake.

"I'd love to but I should probably get myself a room before it gets to late."

"Worry about that later, Kate. Make yourself comfortable and maybe I'll let you spell-check my scribbles before I send them off to Alexis."

"Are you sure I won't be in the way?"

"Not at all, Kate. I'm gonna sit outside and write for a little while. You can watch some TV if you'd like" Rick said. After taking a quick forkful of cake, he grabbed his laptop and wandered out onto the room's balcony, pulling the sliding glass door closed behind him and leaving a strangely confused yet happy Kate Beckett sitting on the edge of the bed.

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Kate startled awake when she felt the bed shift next to her and she struggled for a few moments, trying to remember where she was. It all came rushing back and she smiled when she realized that Rick Castle had taken up residence on the other half of the room's queen size bed. Rolling up onto her side, she found him staring at her, his headed propped up by one arm.

"Should I call the front desk and arrange for a room?" she asked the man making himself comfortable next to her.

"No, that's alright, Kate. It's late and we should be fine for the night. I have a seven o'clock wake up call. If that's too early, I can call and cancel it" Rick offered and, after seeing a quick headshake, moved his head and eased back onto the pillow. "Alright. Good night, Kate" he told her, reaching out to turn off the bedside lamp. And then easing back onto the pillow before closing his eyes.

"Good night, Rick" Kate said softly before surprising herself by falling back to sleep.

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Kate Beckett woke up feeling better than she'd felt in a long time and she realized that the reason she was feeling so much better was the strong pair of arms that she'd somehow found her way into, sometime during the night. Snuggling a little closer to the source of her improved mood, she let herself drift back to sleep, promising herself that she'd do whatever it took to make sure she woke up in the same arms…for the rest of her life.

**A/N:2 - next time? Vegas, San Diego, Blacks Beach and the premiere where we'll hear Alexis ask…"Kate, what's that on your finger?"**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **I know it's been a while but I've been tinkering with some stuff for my first 'love', my Chuck scribbles. I hope to get to another chapter of Detective Lessons soon and I think I might have a chapter or two more for this one unless I decide to scrap the sequel and simply have the 'Bucket List:Honeymoon Trip' become part of this tale. I dn't own any of the characters who appear in the Castle TV show and I'm still woefully underpaid for the delightful story I'm weaving here...ok, you caught me, I'm not being paid at all, which, when you consider my 'delightful' use of the English language, isn't so hard to understand afterall. Thanks to everyone who's alerted, favorited and reviewed...it really does mean a lot when you take that little extra time and share your thoughts...remember, the only way I get better is through your comments, positive or not...and the threat of 'stick time' from Oldestman...I'm still having fun so big thanks to Armadilloi, the reason I gave this writing thing a try...thank you, Jim. _**JT**_

_**A/N: P.S.**_Thanks to those of you who caught my 'mother-in-law / step-mom' mistake...it's been corrected

**Castle - The Bucket List - Chapter 12**

Kate Beckett wasn't sure if she'd ever get used to the flash of camera strobes and the near constant yells for her attention that walking arm in arm with Richard Castle seemed to produce. Glancing at the man on her left side, a man who seemed to take up more space than humanly possible, she found him smiling at her. She felt herself returning the smile, hoping the look on her face reflected the feeling of happiness that had become her core ever since that morning in the motel room when she'd awoken in Rick's arms.

Her eyes did a quick head to toe scan of her 'date', her smile growing even brighter when she paused her perusal, the sight of the rattlesnake skin boots reminding her of the group waiting for them in the theater lobby, a group that included the individual who was directly responsible for the footwear. She couldn't wait to see Shog, wondering how the bulldog was reacting to the crowds that were surely swirling around her.

Rick had insisted that Jeremy allow the tenacious little dog to join them for the premiere, going so far as to arrange for a seat just for the four legged dignitary who would be accompanying the human she owned and his aunt, Molly. Kate wanted to laugh at the thought of Shog's reaction to all of the attention she was sure to attract. Thinking of the dog led her to thinking about the rest of the group who were waiting for them, remembering easy camaraderie that had been evident when everyone had gathered in the hotel lobby as they waited for super-stretch Humvee that had been hired to transport them all to the event.

The ride to the theater had been filled with smiles and laughs until Alexis had silenced the entire group when she'd, very vocally, asked Kate about the ring on her finger, her question directing everyone's attention to Rick and herself, sitting together in the very back of the limo.

"When did you get the ring?" she queried, her eyes locked on Kate's hands that were resting in Rick's. Everyone else turned to see what the young redhead had asked about.

"What, this little thing?" Kate had asked, holding up her right hand and wiggling her fingers briefly before offering up her hand as an answer to the young woman's question. "Your father bought it for me when we visited Roswell".

"Kate, I wasn't asking about dad's 'O.C.' moment when he bought you that 'alien eyeball' ring" Alexis replied.

"Well, you father and I had finished getting told that we couldn't get onto the government's land…for the third time, and we'd decided to grab some lunch after visiting the biggest gift store in town. I'd been carrying the shopping basket, quietly slipping things back onto the shelf after your dad would exclaim how cool something was and then toss two or three of each thing into the basket. We were finally in line to check out when he spotted the rings in a display case near the register that was filled with 'alien' jewelry. You know your dad" she'd said, smiling at the knowing nod from both Alexis and Martha, "he said he wanted one for an engagement ring."

"Why would my dad want an engagement ring?" Alexis had asked.

"Well, as he explained it, since I proposed, he felt that he should get to pick out his engagement ring…"

"You proposed?" Lanie blurted out, somehow managing to beat everybody else at vocalizing the question that was on all their minds.

"Yeah, she got down on one knee and begged me to marry her" Rick had offered, his exaggerated version of the event bringing as smile to almost everyone's face.

"I did no such thing" Kate had explained while giving her date for the premiere a semi-serious 'stink-eye', ignoring the shocked looks from the rest of the limo's occupants.

"Detective Beckett" Alexis said, her smile easing away as she used her eyes to indicate the ring she'd been asking about, "I meant that platinum band on your other hand."

"Oh, that one" she'd asked, dropping her right hand to her lap and lifting the left so the rest of the people present could get a look at the piece of jewelry in question. "He put that on my finger" Kate said nodding towards the man sitting next to her, "after the Elvis impersonator…"

"You guys got married?" Alexis had blurted out, her face a mixture of shock and something that she couldn't quite name.

"Well, not officially" Rick had announced, sure that his daughter would be nothing short of pissed if she hadn't been told about their plans and asked to take part in the ceremony. "We were in Vegas and Goo proposed to Gumby and we decided to make it a double ceremony…after we made sure that our 'Elvis' wasn't a notary public…"

"There was no way we would get married without including all of you" Kate had added and then patiently waited as everyone tried to speak at once, even Shog getting into the mix, jumping out of Molly's lap and standing in the middle of the limo, barking excitedly as she spun from side to side, evidently trying to locate the source of all of the excitement.

"Mrs. Castle" someone yelled from the crowd of reporters and paparazzi that surrounded she and Rick, startling her from the memories of the earlier limo ride.

"What?" Kate gasped, instinctively pulling Rick closer to her, her eyes dropping to look at the platinum band that encircled her finger, a delicate match for the one on her date's finger.

"Not a word, Kate" Rick said softly, "it was just someone trying to get your attention by calling out something that no one else is yelling" he explained, his years of experience with the press leaving him wise to the ways of the celebrity journalists and photogs who were an accepted part of his public life. "There's probably no way that anyone could know about Vegas."

"Probably?" she asked, trying to keep the flash of panic that the caller had sparked, from showing in her voice.

"And after that day at Blacks, I didn't think there was anything that could embarrass you" he told her with a wink, reminding her of her first encounter with public nudity that didn't end with someone, usually a drunken idiot, in handcuffs.

After the climb down the seaside cliff, she'd slipped out of her clothes and then waited, refusing to turn her back when Rick had teasingly suggested that he felt a little shy. Reminding him that they'd already gone past the whole 'naked in front of each other' thing, she tried to not stare, hungrily, when he'd shed his own clothes, adding them to the pile of discarded coverings that filled one corner of the beach towel they'd spread out once they'd made their way to the beach.

They'd spent most of the afternoon relaxing and the only problem had happened when Kate had returned from a swim in the cold Pacific to find several young co-eds gathered around Rick, flirting shamelessly with her fiancé. Her sudden appearance and the 'not happy to see you' look on her face had quickly discouraged the young women who'd all fled within moments of her arrival.

Fighting the almost primitive feeling urge to stake her claim by 'attacking her man, using her body to make a very visual display that he was off limits, she'd simply asked if they might call it a day, breathing a sigh of relief when Rick had silently agreed, getting to his feet and offering her a dry towel before starting to climb back into his clothes.

That evening, after a very thorough shower and an equally thorough application of after-sun skin lotion, they'd spent several hours cuddling on the hotel room bed, watching movies. About mid-way through the second film, Kate finally gave into her earlier urges and spent the rest of the night 'marking' her territory.

Taking a deep, centering breath, she let go of the visions of her 'claiming' Richard Castle, smiled up at him and then leaned in to place a gentle kiss on his cheek. "Thank you" she whispered, reaching up and using her thumb to wipe the small spot of lipstick she'd left on the side of his face. "I can't wait until that title is official" she told him before turning slowly to wave at the crowd of photographers that were still snapping away, the flashes from their camera's leaving her wishing that she and her fiancé were somewhere else, preferably somewhere that they could share with no one else, somewhere that required a lot less clothing and closer proximity.

"Just twenty more feet" Rick told her, turning and waving at all of the people that lined both sides of the red carpet, all of them yelling and screaming, trying to get anyone's attention, obviously not really caring who noticed them, just struggling to be noticed.

"Do you think Alexis has forgiven us yet?" she asked from the side of her mouth, keeping the smile on her face as she followed Rick's example, waving to the gathered crowd of people, most of whom wouldn't actually be attending the celluloid debut of Nikki Heat and Jameson Rook.

"Kate, I told you, once she realized that we were really together and that we hadn't excluded her from the actual ceremony, she was fine" he answered, pausing to allow her to enter the theater ahead of him and then moving quickly to guide her towards the area of the lobby where Paula had promised him the rest of his guests would be waiting for them.

Catching sight of their friends, she gave Rick's hand, which she had refused to release after they'd stepped from the limo, a gentle squeeze and begand pulling him towards the group. She wanted to smile as she caught sight of Ryan and Esposito posing beside the life-size cutouts of the movie's stars as Lanie and Jenny laughed while taking pictures of their men and their one-dimensional Hollywood counterparts.

"Wow, it's so hard to tell them apart" Kate called out to her partners as they struck another pose.

"I don't know, Kate, I think the guy who plays Ochoa is a little prettier than Espo..." Rick answered with a laugh, pulling his phone from his pocket to takes a few pictures.

"Oh no, my man is definitely better looking" Lanie announced before walking over and kissing the cardboard cut out of Ochoa.

"Very funny, Chica" Esposito said with what could only be described as a manly pout, moving to wrap an arm around his girlfriend's waist. "Plus, I'm a much better kisser" he added, his lips finding their way to hers.

"Yes, you are a better kisser" Lanie announced once her lips had been released.

Kate couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up from her happy center, surprising everyone around her because, if there was one thing her friends could say, it was that Kate Beckett didn't laugh...at least not very often.

"That's a truly delightful sound" Molly said, stepping up to the younger woman and pulling her into a hug. "I'm so glad you got your head out of your ass" she whispered into Kate's ear. "Rick might have loved your forever but I don't know how much longer he was going to wait for you." Stepping back, she moved to the side and took a seat next to her nephew who was busy scratching Shog behind her ears.

As if on cue, once the older woman took a seat, the bulldog got up and stalked over to where Rick and Kate stood, head-butting Kate's shins and then throwing her self across Rick's rattlesnake skin boots, her stubby tail bouncing while the object of her affections bent down to administer a thorough scratching. Pleased with the attention but to 'cool' to show it, the bundle of fur simply closed her eyes and promptly fell asleep.

Kate felt a hesitant tapping at her shoulder and she turned to find herself staring into the intensely blue eyes of her future step-daughter. Unsure what Alexis wanted, she gave a small shrug, inviting the young woman to speak. When the redhead motioned towards a less crowded part of the lobby, she gave Rick's hand a squeeze and excused herself, turning to follow his daughter as she slowly moved away.

"Kate, uh, do you mind if I keep calling you Kate even though it looks like you're going to be my step-mom pretty soon?"

"The sooner the better" she replied, putting as much love and conviction into her voice as possible, "but I never want you to stop calling me Kate...or whatever makes you comfortable."

"Are you sure" she asked, her eyes saying more than the three little words. She obviously needed to hear more.

"Alexis, I've never been more sure of anything in my life" she answered. "I love your father with all of my heart and I'm going to spend the rest of my life proving that to him...and to anyone else who cares about him. I'm never going to let him go...never!" she finished, stepping a little closer and moving to put her arms around the younger woman, hesitantly pulling her into a hug.

She stood motionless for a minute and then felt Alexis relax slightly and then tighten her arms around her back, pulling her closer.

"Please don't ever hurt him again" she heard her boyfriend's daughter whisper into her ear.

"I won't, I promise" she answered softly.

"Alright, who's ready to see a movie?" Paula's voice called out from somewhere close by. Without waiting for an answer, Rick's agent walked over and took Rick's hand, looking down at the now awake and growling bulldog who was looking up at her with her teeth bared.

"Shog!" both Molly and Jeremy called out at the same time, earning them both a 'who, me?' look from the dog who never totally looked away from the cause of her bristling fur.

"Aw, c'mon girl" Rick spoke to his guardian, "She's only an agent" he added, trying to keep a smile off of his face but failing utterly when Shog looked up at him with an 'are you kidding me?' look. With a chuff, she got to her feet and stalked towards the woman, not stopping until her head butted against Paula's shin once, and then again.

I think she's telling you to lead on" Rick managed to gasp out, the struggle to keep his laughter subdued leaving him short of breath and red in the face.

Kate found herself watching the battle of wills between her fiance's agent and the bulldog, not at all surprised when Paula turned and stomped away, offering a nervous "follow me" over her shoulder. When the woman dropped her eyes to look at Shog, the dog growled again and that was all it took.

"C'mon, everybody" Rick managed to wheeze out, "before Paula decides to make a room for it and we're left without a guide." He looked around at all of the people who'd accepted his invitation to this special evening and couldn't help the smile that grew on his face, a direct extension of the warmth in his heart for all of his friends.

"Jeremy, do you think Shog might actually bite Paula" Rick asked as he watched everyone begin moving in the same direction that Paula had taken off.

"Rick, she didn't bite the rattlesnake, now did she?" Jeremy answered seriously but was soon laughing along with the rest of the group.

"You're right. So"he said, waiting until Kate and Alexis had joined him, each one taking a side, "let's go see a movie."

**A/N:2** After the premiere and, through the magic of flashbacks, more of the stuff that happened before. Thoughts?


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hey gang, been a while but I'm back. I did this for Oldestman! He asked me to finish one of my scribbles and I picked this one. Of course no story is ever really done but I got this one to where I wanted to go…hope you like it. Tom, thanks for the nudge and the support. Jim, thanks for the push. JT**

**Castle : The Bucket List - Chapter 13**

It had been almost six months since the premiere of Nikki Heat and Katherine Beckett was not a happy camper. As far as she was concerned it had been over five months since, as far as she was concerned, she should have been changing her last name to Castle. She couldn't help smiling as she remembered the thunderous standing ovation that had followed the final fade-out of the movie and her smile grew as she thought about the after party that Rick had insisted on throwing at the Magician's Castle. Everyone who had joined them at the theater had showed up and the party had dragged into the early morning hours.

The next morning had arrived with a vicious hangover and rave reviews for the movie. Of course, her equal parts annoying and sweet fiancé had insisted that reading them to her, in his low, husky voice, would cure her headache. Of course, she hadn't the heart to tell him that he could have been in bed with her and read the phone book into her ear and the headache would have been banished by the deep well of desire that his warm breath and sexy voice always seemed to trigger in her. Well, that wasn't true; because she certainly had the heart, she just didn't want to give him anymore cause to strut around as he was sure to do because of the large number of glowing reviews for the movie.

Having heard enough and nearly overcome with lust because of his voice and his warm breath on her ear, she'd grabbed the stack of newspapers from his hands and thrown them across the room before grabbing his ears and pulling him down on top or her. When room service had delivered their breakfast at almost two in the afternoon, she could help the light blush that the bell boys knowing smirk had caused. She'd ducked into the bathroom for a quick shower and when she'd returned, her insufferable fiancé was sitting with his back against the headboard, hiding what she was sure was his own knowing smirk behind a newspaper.

"What exactly do you think is so smirk worthy?" she'd asked, planting her hands on her hips and giving him her patented death glare. Of course, she knew that he wasn't fooled and that just made it worse, and better, at the same time.

"I'm sure that I have no idea what you're referring to" he'd replied while slowly lowering the newspaper into his lap, the smirk gone and his "what did I do?' look combined with his 'you know you love me' look firmly in place.

"You know exactly what you did" she'd practically hissed at him while stalking slowly towards the bed, her fists slowly clenching and unclenching at her sides. "You practically told that young man that we'd been having sex…"

"Really great, mind-blowing, gee that Nikki Heat movie was the bomb diggity, sex" he'd interjected, his eyebrows wiggling rapidly, almost as he they were trying to take flight.

Struggling to keep her 'war' face in place, she'd continued to advance towards the bed and when she was only a couple of feet away, she'd leapt at the most infuriating man in the world, landing atop his lap, pinning him to the bed while she grabbed one of his ears with one hand while tossing the morning paper onto the floor beside them.

"Bomb diggity?" she'd growled into the ear she had firmly gripped between her right thumb and forefinger while her left hand had sought out, and quickly found, one of his nipples. "How about a purple nurple Mr. 'I'm just too cute'?" she growled huskily into the captive ear, releasing him moments later as he whined 'apples' over and over.

"What about breakfast?" he'd questioned, stealing a look at the loaded cart that was sitting at the bedside.

"After I'm done disciplining you" she'd breathed into his ear, thrilled and aroused by the response her actions and words were having on her 'captive', "after I'm done."

"And how will I know when you're done?" he'd teased back, his hands making short work of the towel she'd worn from the bathroom which soon joined the forgotten newspaper on the floor beside the bed.

"Trust me, writer man, you'll know" she'd replied while grinding into his lap, wondering how their breakfast would taste for dinner or, if they were really lucky, a late evening snack.

With a growl of frustration, Kate Beckett pulled to the side of the road and after shutting down the engine, climbed from the bike and started kicking at the rocks that seemed to be everywhere. Before she could lose herself to her frustration, two things seemed to happen at once; her passenger started barking at her and her phone started to ring. Pausing to take her helmet from her head, she took a few deep and hopefully calming breaths before she reached across the Harley's seat and released Shog's safety restraint, stepping quickly backwards when her traveling companion leapt from the motorcycles sidecar and rushed towards the grassy incline about fifty yards away. She couldn't help smiling as she watched the bulldog race towards the closest vegetation, pausing briefly to look back, almost as if she was checking to make sure that her ride wasn't planning on leaving without her. The chiming of her phone made her stop watching her four legged companion and when she looked down at the display, she wanted to growl again.

"What do you want, Castle?" she asked, not bothering to try and hide the frustration that had been growing for the last five months.

"Want, my dear detective?" he replied, the sweetness and concern in his voice almost making her forget their silly wager…almost. Just to let you know that I've dropped the latest pages off with Jeremy and to make sure we're still on for 'Needsday' which is only two days away."

"I know how many days away it is, Castle. Where are you now?" she spoke calmly but with an edge to her voice.

"You know I can't tell you that, Kate. The rules of the wager…"

"Screw the wager, writer-boy, I just want us to get married. Is that too much to ask?"

"No Kate, it's not. Just admit that you were wrong, and more importantly, that I was right, and we'll get married tomorrow."

"I'm gonna catch you, Castle" she growled into the phone, "and then, after you get the tattoo, then, we're gonna get married!" she finished with a huff. The sound of the laughter from the other end of the call only made it worse. She hit the disconnect, drew back her arm and barely managed to stop herself from hurling her phone at a semi that just happened to be passing by at that moment. "Rassin, frassin, no good…" she mumbled to herself, her phone held in a death grip as she stared down at the screen saver of her incredibly infuriating fiancé, "…stupid frakking bet, stupid frakking book, stupid frakking website…" she ground out the litany that she had found herself going over more and more often.

"This is all your fault, Richard Castle" she informed the phone still held in her fist and, not for the first time…or the hundredth…or probably, if she was honest, the thousandth time, she secretly admitted that it really was her fault. She could have stopped the silly chase, with all its silly rules and exceptions, by simply admitting defeat and giving Richard Castle what he wanted. She knew she wanted the same thing and, she had to admit, she never thought the bet would last as long as it had.

'That stupid f'ing bet' she told herself, remembering the exact time and place when she'd told her been forced to 'find his ass and drag him back to new York so he could make an honest woman out of her'. They'd both laughed at her statement and he'd, still laughing, agreed, admitting that it was 'a good thing he'd come to his senses, otherwise she'd probably still be chasing him'. Somehow or other, one thing led to another and now, nearly six months later, Rick was continuing to surprise and frustrate her as he managed to stay one or two or sometimes five steps in front of her.

The wager had grown from friends and family telling them they were being foolish to tens of thousands of people, several websites and one publishing company watching as Richard Castle and Kate Becket played an unbelievably intricate version of catch. It had been just a couple of days short of six months and in that time Richard Castle had almost completed a new novel, somehow finding the time to write almost every single day. Alexis had been posting the pages on her 'Care and Feeding' website and Black Pawn was preparing to publish a special 'coffee-table' book with pictures from the 'chase' as well as the story he'd been plugging away at since the third day.

After the first week, she'd managed to convince Rick that they needed more than the chase and 'Needsday' had been added. It was a twenty-four hour period when they would suspend the chase and just be together to satisfy their 'needs'. Castle had teased her that he was fine, that it was only her needs but, as soon as their first 'Needsday" was nearing its end, he'd confessed to missing her more than he liked and if she hadn't chosen that exact moment to smirk in self satisfaction, the wager would have been over, but, she just couldn't help herself, and here they were.

As the days had passed, Kate constantly found herself amazed at the number of people who seemed to be following them, through the websites and, in some cases, even in person. At first she'd been sure that the websites would help her catch her wayward beau but when people started posting false leads and fake Richard Castle sightings and after being faked out a couple of times by posted hint s, she fell back on what she did the best; she let her years of training and her intuition guide her. And yet, somehow or other, Richard Edgar Alexander Rogers Castle was still in the wind.

She'd criss-crossed the country, east to west and north to south more times than she ever imagined she would have, if she'd ever imagined she were a cross country trucker. She'd been to the ranch half a dozen times and even been out with Molly twice, all to no avail. In fact, her first visit to the ranch had been when she'd gotten her latest mode of transportation, a World War 2 Harley with its original sidecar. Of course Castle had spent way too much money having it restored and upgraded with all the latest gadgets and, if she was honest with herself, she had grown to love this bike almost as much as her soft-tail.

The first time she'd seen the classic motorcycle, she'd nearly fallen down laughing at the sight of Shog sitting in the sidecar with her very own custom helmet and goggles. Since then, she always enjoyed her rides with the bulldog and the looks they would get from just about everyone they passed…except for today. Sure, she was enjoying the ride but her growing frustration with her fiancé was actually beginning to taint the enjoyment she normally got from these infrequent outings.

Looking back down at the phone still tightly gripped in her hand she came to a decision that was almost six months in the making. "It's time to make some calls" she announced to no one in particular, her thumb toggling the contacts menu. A bark at her hell told her that her charge was back from natures call and ready to get back on the road. She couldn't help smiling as she watched the ease with which her four legged passenger climbed into the side car and sat back on her haunches, obviously waiting for the helmet and goggles and, maybe not quite as patiently, for the safety strap. After touching the second icon on her frequently called list, she lifted the phone to her ear with her left hand while she got Shog ready to travel.

'One more stop, girl, and then we'll get you home" Kate said as she slung her leg over the seat. "Hey Alexis" she said into the phone, "I need your help with something…"

Kate Beckett was doing her best to ignore the buzzing sound and the dull ache from her lower back, telling herself that it was almost over. The chair she was currently in was surprisingly comfortable and, if not for the constant irritation near the base of her spine, she believed she might actually be able to sleep in this position. The sudden cessation of the buzzing and the lack of pressure where the artists hand had been resting told her that it was done and now, finally, after six long months, it was time to get what she really wanted.

"Property of Richard Castle" announced a voice from behind her. God how she loved that voice, she told herself. "Although, you could have added 'Number 1 Fan' to that as well."

"Castle, are you saying that my ass is big enough to need a tramp stamp that big?" she asked as the tattooist slowly cleaned the area of her latest art.

"No, of course not, I told you that you didn't need to do this…"

"I know that, Castle" she answered. Looking back over her shoulder, she couldn't miss the twinkle in his eyes as he smiled at her. "I got it because I wanted it. You're my one and done, Richard Alexander Edgar Rogers Castle, my one and done! Now, once TomTerrific here is done with the Neosporin, we've got a justice of the peace waiting back at the loft and we're getting married! You won the bet but I won you!"


End file.
